August 2026 Climate Summary

August 2026 Climate Review:

Temperatures ranged from near normal to slightly above normal. The month started off unusually cool with highs only in the mid 70s to around 80 on the 1st and 2nd due to abundant cloud cover and showers. Temperatures began to moderate with highs into the mid to upper 80s from the 3rd through 6th. The longest heatwave of the summer season impacted our area from the 10th through 16th with highs reaching the mid to upper 90s, overnight lows only dropping into the mid to upper 70s, and heat index readings reaching 105-110 (locally higher) on a daily basis. Temperatures averaged slightly below normal from the 17th through 29th with highs primarily in the mid to upper 80s and lows falling into the low to mid 60s most nights. The month ended with another heatwave with highs reaching above 90 on the 30th and 31st. Heat index readings exceeded 100 in most locations on the 31st.

Precipitation was quite varied across our region. Large chunks of the area observed drier than normal conditions including most of west Kentucky from the lakes area eastward, portions of southeast Missouri generally south of a line from Williamsville to Dexter to New Madrid, and parts of southeast Illinois centered around Johnson, Pope, Hardin, and Gallatin counties. Amounts in these areas only ranged from 0.5 to 2”, which was generally 1 to 3” below normal for August. Meanwhile, a swath of above normal rainfall occurred across southeast Missouri into the Jackson Purchase area of west Kentucky, focused from Marble Hill and Benton, MO to Paducah and Mayfield, KY. This region observed amounts ranging from 4 to 8”, which was generally 1 to 5” above normal. Paducah finished as their 8th wettest August on record. Another corridor of wetter conditions occurred in portions of southern Illinois generally north of Route 13 and south of I-64 and into parts of southwest Indiana where amounts mostly ranged from 3-5”. The highest observed amount in our forecast area was 8.51” at a CoCoRaHS station in Ballard County, KY (Kevil 4.6 NW).

While August wasn’t as active for severe thunderstorms as June and July were, we still experienced far more severe thunderstorms than we typically do in the month of August. The 2 main events were August 12 and 19-20. We issued 10 tornado warnings in August which was more than the previous 13 years combined! August is typically the least likely month to observe tornadoes in our area with only 22 on record from 1950-2025. This year we had 3 EF-1’s touch down.