Warmest December on record established

SIKESTON — Many locations across the region experienced their warmest Decembers on record, including Sikeston; Paducah, Kentucky; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Poplar Bluff, Missouri; and Carbondale, Illinois.

According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, monthly average temperatures in December ranged from 9 to 11 degrees above normal. High temperatures ended up around 12 to 13.5 degrees above normal, but the low temperatures only finished around 6 to 8.5 degrees above normal.

There were several periods of record high temperatures through the month. The first occurred Dec 2-3, with another between Dec 10-15, and the final most pronounced one occurred Dec 24-28. All five of the Weather Service’s official climate stations recorded their warmest Christmas Day on record, with temperatures ranging between 72 and 77 degrees. Some of these records were shattered by as much as 7 degrees. Poplar Bluff was within 1 degree of their all-time warmest December temperature on Dec. 2 when they reached 78 degrees. Paducah experienced eight days with temperatures reaching 70 degrees, breaking the previous December record of five days set in 2015. A record number of days reaching 70 degrees was also set in Poplar Bluff, Carbondale, and Cape Girardeau with 6, 5, and 5 days respectively. Sikeston’s warmest average temperature was 49.8 degrees, beating its previous record of 48.9 in 2015.

Much of the region finished near or slightly wetter than normal for December. Some of the wettest locations were observed around Cape Girardeau and into the Carbondale and Vienna areas of southern Illinois. Cape Girardeau finished as its 10th wettest December on record. There was also a corridor of higher rainfall amounts focused across parts of northwest Kentucky including around the Madisonville area. Some drier than normal pockets were intermixed, particularly across southern portions of the region along the Kentucky/Tennessee border and in the Poplar Bluff area. However, Sikeston recorded 3.36 inches of rain in December. The normal December precipitation ranges are 3.5 to 5 inches, the Weather Service said.

Two severe weather events impacted the region during the month, one Dec. 5-6 and another Dec. 10-11.

The latter event included a historic EF-4 tornado that left a path of destruction of 165 miles long and over 1 mile wide across western Kentucky.