Winter 2025-2026 Climate Summary

Overview and Graphics
Seasonal Summary
Severe Weather Summary

Overview and Graphics

Winter 2025-2026 Climate Summary:

Temperatures averaged slightly below normal by 0.5 to 1 degree. December averaged near normal, January was 3 to 4 degrees below normal, and February was 1 to 2 degrees above normal. By far the coldest stretch of the winter season was from January 18th through February 1st. This two week period was the 5th coldest such period on record in Paducah and finished in the top 10 coldest for all of our climate sites. We had several extremely warm periods during the winter, including Dec 23-28, Jan 6-9, Feb 16-20, and Feb 27-28. High temperatures reached the 60s and 70s during these periods and several record highs and warm lows were broken.

Precipitation was much drier than normal, with the majority of our region experiencing their driest winter on record. Amounts for the 3 month period were only 2 to 4” in most locations. A few areas observed 4 to 5”, with these primarily confined to southern portions of west Kentucky along with southwest Indiana. Meanwhile, there were a few sites across southeast Missouri that failed to even receive 2”. The highest observed amount in our area was 5.50” at the Todd County Kentucky mesonet station (5 miles south of Elkton). Normal precipitation in a winter season is 9 to 13”, so we were roughly 5 to 9” below normal across the Quad State. January was our wettest month, but it was still 1 to 3” drier than normal.

Snowfall averaged above normal across the northern two thirds of the region, while finishing near normal for areas closer to the AR and TN borders. A major winter storm occurred January 24-25, which produced widespread amounts ranging from 4 to 14”. This event produced much of our seasonal snowfall, but there were some light accumulations in the 1st half of December.

Winter 2025-2026 Review: Precipitation and Temperature Maps (Click on image to enlarge)

Climate Maps are from the Northeast Regional Climate Center

Seasonal Summary Listings of normals and records for Paducah, Evansville, and Cape Girardeau

Seasonal Climate Report: Paducah | Evansville | Cape Girardeau | Poplar Bluff | Carbondale

# of Warnings Issued - Winter 2025-2026 (Click on images to enlarge) The graphics below show all of the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued across our 58 county forecast area during the December 2025 through February 2026 period.

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - County Based	Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - Polygon Based

Tornado Warnings - County Based	Tornado Warnings - Polygon Based