MikJournal Monday 09/30/2019...Record Setting Month Coming to a Close

Good last Monday of a memorable month of September. You are witnessing something that may not be repeated for a very long time.

Several locations like Louisville and Lexington will record their hottest and driest September ever. In fact, it will be the driest month of any year for the respective climatological records.

But, October looks to start out the same way. Therefore, places like Louisville and possibly Lexington will likely set all-time record high temperatures for the month of October.

As you may have noticed, I have not posted a Welcome page for Autumn yet, because it's been too hot. But, temperatures are soon going to return to normal October standards by the end of this week.

At Lexington, annual precipitation stands at 36.51", just 2.03" above normal for the year.  This same time last year, we were closing out a record-setting wet month that bolstered our annual precipitation to 53.75". Wow. What a difference a year makes, from record wettest September in 2018 to record driest month ever 2019.

So, with the cooler air slated to arrive later this month, one would expect a nice line of beneficial rain to impact the area. Well, not so fast my friend. Although some forecast centers like WPC are showing beneficial rainfall for parts of central Kentucky by next Sunday, current local forecasts show dry weather for the rest of the week, with a slight chance (<=20 %) by sometime next weekend, perhaps awaiting future data to determine if the rainfall will be meager or actually for real this time.

Therefore, for places like Lexington, their record 37 day dry streak looks to be in jeopardy. At 33 days currently, if it does not rain by this Friday, a new record will be established.

Annually, it's looking more and more difficult for Lexington to eek out an above normal year in the precipitation department. This could be the driest year since 2012, when Lexington finished nearly 2.5" below normal for the year.

I will post some MikJournal Moments this week, highlighting records and expanding on any hope for substantial rainfall for our region.

Thanks for checking in. Now, I'm checking out. Have a good week.

MS