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Weather Service names top events of 2023
PADUCAH, Ky. — Major flooding in Sikeston in August was among the National Weather Service’s top 10 weather events of 2023.
“The year 2023 was very active, particularly through early August,” the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, said. “While the region witnessed one of our warmest winters on record, we still managed a couple impactful wintry precipitation events during the last week of January. March roared in like a lion with a powerful storm system that led to severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding, strong gradient winds of 50-70 mph, and the lowest barometric pressure on record in Paducah and Evansville, Indiana.”
The Weather Service witnessed an incredibly high number of windy days during the first several months. The office ended up issuing a total of 12 wind advisories from January through April (records for wind advisories date back to 2006 and this was three more than the previous highest during the first four months of the year which was nine in 2019).
During the overnight hours on April 5, an EF-2 tornado touched down in Bollinger County, Missouri, and took the lives of five people as it tore through the town of Glenallen, Missouri.
An extremely active pattern set up from late June through early August with multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding. The first round arrived over the weekend leading up to the Fourth of July, when the Weather Service issued 154 combined warnings over a four-day period (breaking the previous four-day record of 148 warnings set from April 24-27, 2011). This was followed by a historic flash flooding event on July 19 that produced a swath of rainfall amounts of 6 to 11 inches.
Numerous flash flood emergencies were issued and the Graves County mesonet site broke the Kentucky state 24-hour precipitation record picking up an incredible 11.28 inches. Yet another flash flooding event occurred in early August, this time focused slightly further west across southeast Missouri and far west Kentucky. Thunderstorms dropped about 10 inches of rain in Sikeston within a 25-hour time period from Aug. 3-4, causing flash flooding throughout the city and creating problems for many, including damage to homes and buildings.
Despite starting off the summer with drought conditions developing from late May through June, parts of the region ended up observing one of our wettest summers on record thanks to the rainfall totals from July 1-Aug.15. High soil moisture levels in August helped contribute to record high humidity levels (dewpoints in the low to mid-80s) which produced heat index readings as high as 120 during our week-long heat wave from Aug. 20-26.
“We finally got a much needed break from the active weather September through November, with drought conditions redeveloping across much of the region,” the Weather Service said. “Record low water levels were observed along portions of the Mississippi River from New Madrid, Missouri, down to Memphis, Tennessee, in October.”
As the end of the year neared, a severe weather event occurred on Dec. 9 across southern portions of west Kentucky. An EF-2 tornado left a path of damage across Todd County, Kentucky (part of a 48-mile long track which included EF-3 damage in Clarksville, Tennessee).
The year ended with a combined 647 warnings (severe thunderstorm, tornado and flash flood) which was the second most on record for a year dating back to 1995. The record is 709 warnings issued in 2006.
Top 10 events
in chronological order, according to the NWS:
Jan. 24-25: Heavy, wet snow across Missouri Ozark Foothills leads to widespread power outages
Jan. 30-31: Sleet and snow impact the region
December 2022-February 2023: Warmest winter on record in Paducah and Cape Girardeau.
March 3: Tornadoes, flooding, strong gradient winds and all-time lowest surface pressure
April 5: EF-2 tornado in Glenallen, Missouri, causes five fatalities
June 29-July 2: Very active four-day period with numerous roads of severe thunderstorms. Total of 238 reports of large hail, damaging winds, or severe wind gusts across the area.
July 19: Historic flash flooding across portions of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. New 24-hour state record established in Kentucky with 11.28 inches at the Graves County mesonet station.
Aug. 3-4: Flash flooding with hardest hit areas from Marble Hill to Sikeston to Hickman, Kentucky.
Aug. 20-26: Hot temperatures and record high humidity levels lead to daily heat index readings of 105 to 120.
Dec. 9: EF-2 tornado in southern Todd County, Kentucky. Part of 47.75-mile long path with EF-3 damage in Clarksville.