Winter Seasonal Summary (December 1st through February 28th): The winter season was warmer and wetter than normal across our area. Temperatures finished around 3 to 4 degrees warmer than an average winter season. Paducah, KY and Cape Girardeau, MO finished as the 7th and 9th warmest winter’s on record respectively. All 3 months of the season finished warmer than normal, but December observed the greatest departure, finishing around 4 to 5 degrees above normal. If you thought it felt different than similar warm winters like the 2016-2017 and 2015-2016 seasons, you would be correct. Those winters observed around twice the number of days with temperatures reaching 60 degrees in Paducah, compared to only 14 days this season. Even last winter, which finished near normal, observed 10 more days reaching 60. This winter was characterized by many days in the 40s and 50s and a lack of truly frigid air. Paducah only observed 8 days with temperatures dipping below 20 degrees.
The entire region finished wetter than normal with most locations picking up at least 15 inches for the season. Western Kentucky saw the highest amounts with totals over 20 inches common. The highest total observed was 26.83” at a CoCoRaHS station in southeastern Graves County Kentucky. All 3 of our official climate stations finished in the Top 5 wettest winter’s on record. Paducah experienced the wettest winter since the 1988-1989 season and Evansville observed their wettest winter since the 1949-1950 season. All 3 months of the season finished wetter than normal, but February was by far the wettest, ranking as one of the top 3 wettest on record in numerous locations.
Seasonal snowfall finished below normal across much of western Kentucky, the southern half of southeast Missouri, far southern Illinois, and portions of southwest Indiana. It finished near or even above normal across much of southern Illinois along and north of Route 13 and into portions of southwest Indiana. The highest snowfall total over the 3 months was 17.6” at a CoCoRaHS station in Marion, IL.
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| Winter 2018-2019 Review: Precipitation and Temperature Maps |
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| Climate Maps are from the Northeast Regional Climate Center |
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