Heat Persists in the South Central U.S. and Southwest; Heavy rains in the Desert Southwest and Central Plains

Sweltering heat remains across the South-Central Plains, Lower/Middle Mississippi Valley, and the Southwest this week with limited nighttime relief. Thunderstorms will bring heavy rainfall leading to localized flash flooding in portions of the Desert Southwest and central Plains. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible across portions of the central Plains into the Northeast. Read More >

Though we had temperatures in August that were typical for the month, June and July were warmer than normal and ended up tilting the summer as a whole warmer than normal. In fact, this ended up being a top ten warm summer in Bowling Green, Lexington, and Louisville. Part of that warmth was due to the dry conditions that settled into the region in mid-June and intensified into July. Moderate drought developed in late June and peaked in mid-July. The hardest hit area was between Leitchfield, Elizabethtown, Hodgenville, and Munfordville where the drought became severe. Widespread rains in late July broke the drought and all five climate sites in central Kentucky actually ended up with a wetter than normal July.

June Summary

July Summary

August Summary

	Average Temperature	Departure from Normal	Precipitation	Departure from Normal
Bowling Green	79.6°	+1.5°	10.23"	-2.45"
Frankfort	76.2°	+0.5°	12.84"	+0.66"
Lexington	77.2°	+2.0°	12.83"	-0.96"
Louisville Ali	79.8°	+1.4°	13.17"	+1.14"
Louisville Bowman	78.0°	+0.8°	12.51"	-0.26"