NOAA NCEI Climate Normals 1991–2020
Kentucky Weather by Month
Temperature, rain and the hurricane season at 70 Kentucky stations, month by month.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
The median station records 51.0 inches of precipitation a year; Murray, KY records the most, 58.0 inches, and Cincinnati Northern Ky Airport, KY the least, 45.3 (1.3 times as much). July is the hottest month at the median station (average high 87°F); the hottest July is at Mammoth Cave, KY, 91°F. January is the coldest (average low 25°F); the coldest January nights are at Shelbyville 1 E, KY, 20°F. Highs reach 90°F on 28 days a year at the median station and on 56 at Providence, KY, the most. Snowfall is heaviest at Jackson, KY, 23.4 inches a year.
This page compares the 1991–2020 NOAA climate normals of 70 Kentucky weather stations, each the nearest station with full normals to at least one of the 281 Kentucky cities on this site that have one within 25 miles.
At the median station, May is the wettest month (5.1 inches) and October the driest (3.5). Station by station, the wettest month is May at 34, July at 17 and April at 7 of the 70, and the driest October at 18, August at 16 and January at 11. The gap between the wettest and driest station is widest in January: 2.8 inches.
Month by month across Kentucky
High, low and precipitation are the median of the 70 stations; the station columns name the station with the highest average high, the lowest average low, and the most and least precipitation that month, each linked to the city page it serves. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
Hurricane season in Kentucky
June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation at the median station, from 45% at Williamsburg, KY to 51% at Charley 2 SW, KY. Since 1851, 15 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of a Kentucky city on this site, 0 of them at hurricane strength at their closest point to one; September has brought the most (6), then October (5). None came outside June to November.
| Month | Tropical systems | At hurricane strength | Median precip. in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 0 | 0 | 3.7 |
| Feb | 0 | 0 | 3.9 |
| Mar | 0 | 0 | 4.7 |
| Apr | 0 | 0 | 4.8 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 5.1 |
| Jun | 2 | 0 | 4.8 |
| Jul | 0 | 0 | 4.8 |
| Aug | 2 | 0 | 3.7 |
| Sep | 6 | 0 | 3.6 |
| Oct | 5 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Nov | 0 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Dec | 0 | 0 | 4.5 |
Tropical systems from NOAA NHC HURDAT2 that passed within 75 miles of a Kentucky city on this site, each counted once, in the month of its first such pass; hurricane strength is the track's wind at its closest point to a city.
Kentucky cities and their stations
| City | Station | Miles | Hottest month high °F | Coldest month low °F | Year precip. in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | Bowling Green Warren Co Airport, KY | 1 | 90 | 28 | 50.0 |
How stations are matched to cities and what normals are: methodology · other states by month