While it might not have looked like a white Christmas Monday, a few snow flurries and sleet, combined with the cold might have felt like it.
That cold is expected to continue throughout the week, according to the National Weather Service in Paducah. Temperatures through to next week are not expected to rise above the 20s and 30s,with lows in potentially dropping into the single digits, meteorologists say. Morning wind chill values are expected to drop below zero at times in locations throughout the region, according to NWS, particularly Wednesday, Thursday and New Year’s Day.
NWS recommends residents use caution by avoiding the outside if possible and dressing in layers. Residents are also encouraged to check on elderly citizens and keep pets warm.
New Year’s average
National Weather Service has been recording climate data since 1949 at Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah and downtown since 1937 according to NWS. Meteorologists have put together averages from each New Year since that time and found Paducah has seen highs as warm as the 60s seven times, most recently in 2006, when the region topped out at 66 degrees New Year’s Day. Six of the years throughout that time span, the high temperature failed to reach 30 degrees. This last occurred in 2001 when the high only reached 21 degrees.
Low temperatures typically fall in the 20s or 30s, accounting for 66 percent of all years on record. However, 1992 the low temperature dropped to -2, which is the only New Year’s with lows below 0, according to NWS.
Measurable precipitation has fallen 39 percent of the time, with more than an inch of precipitation falling on four occasions, however, meteorologists say this hasn’t happened since 1966. Measurable snowfall has only occurred on five occasions (7 percent of all years on record), with the most recent occurring in 2001. There have been five years (7 percent of all years on record) with a snow depth of 1 inch or greater. This last happened in 2001 when there was 1 inch of snow on the ground to ring in the New Year.
For more information, visit http://www.weather.gov/pah.