Data from the National Weather Service in Paducah indicates the Daviess County may soon surpass its average annual rainfall before the month of July is up.
According to the NWS, nearly all of Daviess County has received between 40 and 50 inches of rain since January, which is approaching the normal amount of rain most of the area gets in an entire year.
Whether the local area is seeing record-breaking rainfall isn’t yet clear, as Daviess County Emergency Management Agency Director Andy Ball says the NWS wants to wait until July is over to reveal the complete data.
“Our highest rainy season ends August 6, so I’ll be contacting them then,” Ball said.
Still, Ball believes Daviess County could surpass its average annual rainfall of 46 inches before much longer.
“I would think [we will surpass it], unless we were to have a lengthy drought,” he said.
According to NWS’s average rainfall data for Daviess County, 3.3 inches of rain have fallen in July, with a half-inch average of rainfall per day. Wet-days — rain accumulating .4 inches or more — have made up 69 percent of July’s weather so far.
These numbers are up against a contrasting weather pattern that’s typical for July in Daviess County. According to Weather Atlas, the local area sees four inches of rainfall in July on average. Only 30 percent of July’s 31 days typically see rainfall at all.
The month of June showed the same pattern of being wetter than usual.
According to data from the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport, 12.1 inches of rain fell during the month of June, obliterating June’s average monthly rainfall of 3.9 inches. For the entire month of June, Owensboro and Daviess County experienced an average .4 inches of rain per day. Rain fell on 50 percent of the days.
July’s wettest day so far saw 2.7 inches of rainfall on July 4, while June saw 3.3 inches of rainfall on the 8th.
The monthly average of rainfall for Kentucky, from 2010-present, is 6.8 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Even more, the NOAA says, on average, Daviess County sees the most rainfall during the months of April and May.
“The most rain falls during the 31 days centered around May 2, with an average total accumulation of 4.8 inches,” NOAA states.
