MURRAY — Recent rainfall has provided a significant boost to drought recovery efforts across Calloway County, but the region still has a long way to go before drought conditions fully disappear.
Justin Holland, Murray's official government weather observer for the National Weather Service's Paducah office, said Monday's storms in particular delivered much-needed precipitation throughout the county.
“We picked up 1.2 inches of rain Monday in downtown Murray, which was actually one of the lower totals,” Holland said. “Places north of town and east of town got upwards of about 3-4 inches of rain, and they had a flash flood warning for a few hours for a complex of storms that was moving (back) over the same area. There was a bit less than 1.2 inches west and southwest of town, but even those areas got close to an inch, so pretty much the whole county got at least an inch of rain, which is very, very good for our drought.”
The recent rainfall continues a wetter-than-normal pattern that developed during May. Holland said the city finished the month with roughly 6.7 inches of rain, about 2 inches above normal for the month. As a result, the area's long-term precipitation deficit has narrowed.
“Our deficit going back to the beginning of November is about 10 inches now, so we have cut the deficit down from 15 inches to 10,” Holland said. “That is progress, but people just need to understand that we don't get in a drought overnight, and we don't get out of the drought overnight either. It takes a long time span – at least several weeks or several months – to get out of the drought, so each storm system that comes will help us.”
The challenge becomes greater as the region enters the hottest months of the year. Higher temperatures and increased evaporation could quickly erase some of the benefits of recent rainfall, Holland said.
“We're going into the hot time of the year, June and July, so we need more rain than we typically would need to get out of the drought if it were wintertime,” Holland said. “Everything dries up so, so fast,” Holland said. “With temperatures in the 80s, all of the puddles and mud from the rainfall we had Monday will probably dry up within a couple of days, so we still could use some more.
“We probably will get some more this weekend into early next week with our next system coming. It doesn't look to be too overly heavy, but it still could provide some much-needed rainfall on the order of a half an inch to an inch. Every big rain we get will slowly seep into the ground.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor currently classifies Calloway County as D2 (severe drought). The intensity classifications across the country are updated each Thursday morning, based on the facts as they stand each Tuesday. Holland said it remains uncertain whether recent rainfall will be enough to improve that designation when updated maps are released later this week, but it's possible.
“We're definitely making progress, and the ponds and lakes are getting back closer to their normal levels,” he said.
The following is additional data Holland covered this week in his “Watching the Weather” column for May:
- The high temperature for the month was 90 degrees on May 18.
- The low temperature for the month was 39 degrees on May 2.
- Average temperatures for the month were a high of 76 degrees, which was two degrees below normal, and a low of 59 degrees, which was three degrees above normal.
- The highest wind speed was 27 mph on May 2.
- Thunder was reported on May 6, 19, 20 and 29.
- Precipitation of 6.70 inches was listed for the month, including: 0.48” May 5, 0.42” May 6, 0.07” May 11, 0.33” May 19, 1.12” May 20, 1.77” May 22, 0.02” May 23, 1.34” May 24, 1.08” May 26 and 0.07” May 29. The normal precipitation for May is 4.94 inches. The weather outlook for June calls for near normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.
