2016 was warmer than usual for the record books

SIKESTON -- Now that 2016 is officially in the books, the National Weather Service has ranked the top 10 weather events of the year along with the overall weather trend for the region.

"It was an unusually warm year across the whole country, and our area saw temperatures that were 2 to 3 degrees above normal for the whole year," the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., reported.

This made it one of the top 10 warmest years on record at all three of the National Weather Service's official climate stations in Paducah, Evansville, Ind., and Cape Girardeau, and the warmest since 2012. The only month that saw below normal temperatures at the three official climate stations was May, the Weather Service said.

Precipitation was above normal across the majority of the area, and was well above normal in portions of the region, especially some locations in western Kentucky.

As the year officially ended, the Weather Service put together it's top 10 weather events in 2016. The top event was the widespread heavy rainfall across the Missouri and Mississippi river basins in late December 2015, which resulted in record flooding along parts of the Mississippi River at the very beginning of 2016.

In the Cape Girardeau and Thebes areas, the river fell below record levels on Jan. 3, 2016. Flooding did not approach record levels in the New Madrid area, south of Cairo, Ill., the Weather Service said.

A levee breach on the Len Small Levee between Cairo and Thebes, Ill., occurred on Jan. 2, 2016. According to Alexander County officials, about 125 structures were flooded, including approximately 50 to 60 homes.

In Scott County, an agricultural levee failed. No heavily populated areas were directly impacted by any of the levee breaches.

Record crests were set in Cape Girardeau and Thebes. The river at Cape Girardeau crested at a record of 48.86 feet on the evening of Jan. 1, 2016, which broke the previous record of 48.49 set in August 1993.

At the No. 2 spot on the list was the Jan. 22 winter storm in western Kentucky while severe weather April 26 in Illinois and Indiana took the third spot.

No. 4 on the top 10 weather events for 2016 was the April 27 severe weather event in Kentucky followed by the May 10 tornado in Mayfield, Ky. (No. 5) and severe weather May 11 in Illinois and Indiana (No. 6).

No. 7 on the list were the line of thunderstorms on July 6 which produced sporadic wind damage in southeast Missouri. The line intensified as it approached the Mississippi River and began to bow out. Widespread damaging winds raked most of southwestern Kentucky in the afternoon, the Weather Service said.

July 6-7 flash flooding in western Kentucky made No. 8 on the list. Rainfall rates up to 8 inches in six hours were reported at the peak of the event in Marshall County, Ky., according to the Weather Service.

No. 9 on the list was August flooding in Missouri and Illinois, with heavy rainfall occurring Aug. 12-18.

Heaviest totals were confined to portions of southeast Missouri and southwest Illinois, where many areas saw 8 to 12 inches or more. Some isolated locations received upward of 15 to 17 inches in Carter and Wayne counties.

Many areas picked up between three and five times the normal August rainfall in under a week, according to the Weather Service. The normal monthly rainfall total for these locations is about 3 inches

During that six-day time period in Sikeston, 4.07 inches of rainfall was recorded by the Sikeston Power Station, which is an official observer for the National Weather Service.

Rounding out the top 10 was the abnormally warm and dry fall 2016. From September through November, temperatures were generally 4 to 6 degrees above normal for the fall season.

"This is a large departure when considering a whole three-month period. Paducah and Cape Girardeau both experienced their warmest fall season on record," the Weather Service said. "Evansville finished as its second warmest fall on record, only behind 1931."

The majority of the area saw below normal precipitation, a drastic change from the very wet conditions back in July and August, the Weather Service said.

Drought conditions expanded across much of Kentucky by mid-October, and conditions worsened heading into November when severe drought conditions developed by the middle of the month. The drought conditions slowly progressed northward as well, with abnormally dry conditions expanding to the southern Illinois and the Ozark Foothills region.

Portions of southern Illinois close to the I-64 corridor faired better in the rainfall department with near normal to even slightly above normal precipitation up near Mount Vernon and Fairfield, Ill.

Some much-needed rain finally came on Nov. 28 with widespread amounts of 1 to 2 inches falling across the area. Despite this, Paducah still finished as the second driest fall on record, with less than 4 inches falling for the whole season. This was over 8 inches below normal.