MikJournal Monday 05/02/2016

Good morning and welcome to my MikJournal Monday segment. After being a bit under the weather or allergies or both last week, I'm trying to get back to a normal routine of things. Of course, I missed my Historical Humpdays segment last Wednesday marking the 5-year anniversary of the historic tornado outbreak affecting central Alabama on April 27, 2011. I do hope to present that material soon.

Meanwhile, as we wrapped up the month of April, remember how windy it was for the first half of the month? I mean we were averaging double-digit mph kind of numbers. It was really looking like this could have been the windiest April ever,  it seemed.

However, looking at the average for the month, at Louisville International, the wind speed was 8.5 mph. March was still much windier on average at 9.5 mph. Even more humiliating, last April averaged 9.0 mph. It's hard to believe April 2016 finished so 'winded' after posting 9 days with wind gusts in excess of 35 mph. Winded, get it? Ha ha...okay. You gotta remember it is Monday.

Temperatures were muffled somewhat as well, thanks in large part to the unseasonable cold we endured for the first part of the month. However, we still ended with 8 days in the 80's, a rather impressive stat.

Moving into May, there was quite a bit of activity on Sunday as hail and some high winds raked the state. Reports of baseball size hail found along Boyd/Lawrence county line in far eastern Kentucky. Meanwhile in Indiana, near Indianapolis, 2.00" diameter hail photos were submitted as well as numerous photos of hail covering the ground up to 2" deep. Impressive looking wall cloud in one of the photos and a 70 mph wind gust at the Indianapolis airport.

Wind and hail damage were common across Oldham and Henry counties close to Louisville. The Lexington Mesonet reported a wind gust of 50 mph. At my place, despite the impressive cloud structure of a supercell, just to my north and then east, I only received a period of heavy rain. That's okay with me. I don't need that kind of hail.

Looking at the Kentucky Mesonet site, you may be interested in knowing that Murray, in Calloway county, leads the wettest of the wet for the year with 25.46" to date. A distant second is Benton, in Marshall county, at 20.08". Both are in western Kentucky.

The highest wind gust for the year so far has been reported in Pike county with a 61 mph gust in March.

Recall from my last post that temperatures may struggle through the 50's for some during this first part of May. That still looks achievable. The cyclonic flow of cool air will make for a rather unpleasant shock to our senses by midweek before rebounding in time for the Oaks and Derby.

Have a good week. Hopefully, no bad weather for you.

MS