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Summer Slammed by Rain; Title for Wettest Up For Grabs

Credit: Midwest Regional Climate Center. Click for larger view.
Tuesday PM Update:
The heaviest rain has come and left it's mark over the past weekend bringing flooded out roads and forcing people from their homes in parts of Missouri and Illinois. The slow, steady rain is starting to wind down and a break in the weather is expected for a day or two. Epic rainfall totals have made headlines for the past few days and record-breaking numbers are becoming more likely as we wrap up Meteorological Summer and the month of August. a fairly large swath of more than 6" of rain has been measured from Southern Indians down through Southern Illinois and into Southeast Missouri just over the past 7 days as see in the graphic above. Even a few specks of white appear in IL/MO which indicates more than 10" or rain during that 7-day period of time (mainly Sat-Tue). Here are a few official 4-Day totals listed by the National Weather Service in Paducah, KY and weatherunderground.com.

  • Ellsinore, Missouri: 17.61"
  • Williamsville, MO: 15.53"
  • Doniphan, MO: 12.14"
  • Mississippi River at Moccasin Springs, MO: 10.67"
  • N. Cape Girardeau, MO: 9.42"
  • NW Poplar Bluff, MO: 9.30"
  • Marble Hill, MO: 8.00"
  • Mt. Vernon, IL: 8.93"
  • Piedmont, MO: 7.52"
  • NW Jackson, MO: 7.28"
  • Big Muddy Substation, IL: 6.89"
  • Zeigler, IL: 6.34"
  • S. Carbondale, IL: 5.81"
  • Benton, IL: 5.81"
Credit: Midwest Regional Climate Center.
Click for larger view.

These rainfall totals are so impressive that some of the higher amounts actually account for 750% of the average rainfall for the 7-day period as seen to the left.
All of this leads to where we stand for the month of August and for the entire Summer season (June-Aug). The following data is generated from the Paducah Area and the Midwest Regional Climate Center and represents up to August 15th:
  • Month-to-date: rank 1st in wettest period with a surplus of 5.78".
  • Season-to-date: rank 3rd wettest with a surplus of 7.15".
  • Year-to-date: rank 12th wettest with a surplus of 9.28"

 The wettest August on record at the Paducah National Weather Service was measured just two years ago in 2014 with 7.85". The wettest summer (Jun-Aug) on record was measured in 1958 with 22.45". Currently, as of Tuesday 5PM, Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah is measuring 7.81" for the month of August and 17.68" for the summer period. With additional rain expected before the end of the month it is highly likely that we will break the record for wettest August but we are still several inches away from breaking the record for wettest summer. It will take an additional 4.77" to hit that particular mark.

Check out this fantastic video from Nicholas Woyak from the Kinkaid Lake Spillway after 4 days of excessive rain in Murphysboro, IL. Nickolas also adds that the last time he had seen the spillway that full was back in May of 2011.
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Location: Paducah, KY, USA

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