Glen Conner
State Climatologist Emeritus for Kentucky

Normally, many days each year experience zero precipitation. However, dry days become the center of attention when they occur over several consecutive days. When these dry spells occur in summer, heat compounds the problems and concern increases. In addition to agricultural drought, municipal drought becomes a concern and the reliabability of water supplies holds our attention. Consider that each month has a record least precipitation amount of 0.15 inch or less. Six months have stations that received no measurable precipitation. October is typically the driest month of the year and October 1963 would qualify as the driest month on record. Eighteen locations from Murray in Calloway County in the west to Elkhorn City in Pike County in the east recorded no precipitation at all. September 1928 was almost as dry with seven locations reporting no rainfall.

Imagine a year when each of six months received less than an inch of precipitation, every month was below normal, and no month came within an inch of the normal amount expected. This was 1968 for Jeremiah in Letcher County. Their annual total of 14.51 inches is a Kentucky record. To put that amount in perspective, it is only four inches more than Dunmor in Muhlenberg County received in one 1960 day!