LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville and Kentuckiana had some interesting and extreme weather in 2023. Overall it was a warm and dry year.
Here's a look back at some of the most notable weather events that impacted the River City and other areas in the Hoosier and Bluegrass States.
Notable Weather Events in 2023
Despite below normal rainfall and almost no snow, it was still an active weather year in Kentuckiana. Here are some notable weather highlights reported by the National Weather Service Louisville.
March 3, 2023: A historic windstorm blew through the region. Wind gusts up to 80 miles per hour were recorded in Louisville, Lexington, and other central Kentucky communities. Three EF-1 tornadoes were reported in southern Indiana. Louisville and Bowling green saw record low barometric pressure, and Louisville also set a daily rainfall record for March 3 of 2.79".
April 5, 2023: A busy severe weather day, five EF-1 tornadoes touched down in southern Indiana and central Kentucky. Though small and brief, they still caused damage. Three of the five were in the Louisville metro.
PHOTOS | Storm damage in Kentuckiana
May 7, 2023: More active severe weather saw six small tornadoes between Floyd County, Indiana and Shelby County, Kentucky in less than an hour. One of these tornadoes crossed the Ohio River and was on the ground for five miles.
June 25-26, 2023: High winds returned to the region with thunderstorms producing microbursts and straight line wind speeds as high as 110 miles per hour. This strong weather system also saw an EF-2 tornado near Cecilia, Kentucky in Hardin County. Giant hail unusual for the Ohio Valley pounded DuBois County, Indiana with a measured hail stone of 4" in diameter! West Baden Springs saw 3" hail.
Hailstorm damage at French Lick Resort in southern Indiana: PHOTOS
August 25, 2023: The hottest day of the year. Louisville's high temperature reached 99° with a heat index of 117°! Bowling Green and Lexington had heat indices of 113° and 110° respectively.
December 26, 2023: Drought conditions continued to worsen in both Kentucky and Indiana. According to the National Weather Service, 22% of southern Indiana and central Kentucky were experiencing severe drought.
Warmer than average year
Starting with Louisville, 2023 was the warmest and least snowy year on record at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport - the official recording site for the city -according to the National Weather Service.
Our average temperature was 61°, good for 2.1° warmer than average.
February was the warmest month from normal with the average temperature of 47.4° being just under 8° above normal.
The "coolest" month, relatively speaking, was June. Our average temperature of 74.4° was 2 degrees cooler than average.
Here's the temperature breakdown by meteorological season:
Rain, rain went away and say it ain't snow
2023 ended up being a dry year for many of us in Kentuckiana.
Louisville's official rainfall was over 7" below normal despite a very wet start to the year with January and March being just under 2" and over 2.5" above normal, respectively.
Nine of the 12 months saw below normal precipitation, with September being the driest month finishing with a nearly three-inch rainfall deficit. Severe drought conditions gripped the region for much of the year despite occasional reprieves from the dryness. For the year, 41.09" of precipitation fell, -7.25" of normal.
It wasn't much better for Louisville's Bowman Field. For the year, 38.69" of precipitation was recorded, almost entirely rain. This is "good" for 9.43" below normal.
The most telling feature of 2023 was the lack of snow.
For the entire calendar year only 1.3" was recorded at Muhammad Ali International Airport. That's a foot below normal! A majority of that snow fell in January, with the only 0.1" coming in December.
We experienced a lot last year! Now, it's time to see what Mother Nature has in store for us for 2024.
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