MikJournal Monday July 4 Edition

Good morning. While July rainfall is always welcome for us gardeners, too much of a good thing can even happen in July, especially on a holiday like the 4th.

Louisville has recorded 2 of its top ten wettest July days ever on the 4th...

1896...5.04" (#2)
1984...4.60"(#3)

Speaking of the year 1896, another top ten wettest July day occurred on the 21st at 3.41", a very wet month overall at 13.01".

In 1984 on this date, Louisville received 4.26" during a 4-hour period from about 2:00 - 6:00 in the morning which caused some minor flooding issues. At least there weren't too many traffic issues thanks to the holiday.

Also, a thunderstorm wind gust of 49 mph was recorded at Standiford Field causing scattered power outages throughout the county and totalling one car when a tree toppled onto it.

Therefore, while another soggy and stormy 4th is expected across the region, hopefully, record rainfall amounts and severe weather will be kept to a minimum.

For Louisville, a minimum of 3.12" would need to occur today for a top ten wettest July day on record.

However, if we become stuck in this pattern of heavy rain, we could be talking about top ten wettest July months on record...again.

Here are the required minimums to achieve a top ten wettest July ever...

Louisville...7.33" (we had 8.65" in July of last year)
Lexington...8.01" (we had 9.66" in July of last year)
Bowling Green...8.23"

Thanks in part to the Storm Data Publication from the NCDC, now a part of the NCEI, the National Centers for Environmental Information.

MS