June Started Dry, Finished Soaking Wet

The month of June in western Kentucky turned out to be statistically normal, but not because it was consistent each day.

The first 25 days of the month were quite dry across the region, with abnormally dry (D0 on Drought Monitor) conditions developing in many areas east of the Mississippi River by June 23. 

A complete reversal occurred during the final 4 days of the month, with excessive amounts of rainfall resulting in flash flooding. The most extreme of these events occurred on June 28th with rainfall amounts of 4 to nearly 8 inches occurring in portions of Henderson, Daviess, and McLean counties. Additional rounds of heavy rain occurred along and east of the Mississippi River through June 30th.

Precipitation totals for the month varied widely from county to county. Portions of southern Illinois and into Kentucky's Pennyrile counties caught 8 to 11 inches, mostly in that last week. Evansville was on track for its 13th-driest June, but the last 3 drenching days instead made the month its 8th-wettest on record.

Conversely, parts of McCracken and Marshall counties were the dry spot for the region with less than 3 inches of rain for all of June. Paducah was within the normal range with 4.26 inches for the month, but only after a new record 2.06 inches fell on the last day of the month.

Temperatures finished slightly above normal by a fraction of a degree. Most of the month didn’t stray far from normal, with no daily average more than 8 degrees above or below normal in Paducah.