Bowling Green Bubble?

After looking at the monthly rainfall totals to-date, at first glance it appears that the infamous ‘Bowling Green Bubble’ is making an appearance this summer.

Here is a list of the highest rain totals in cities around the area during the month of June so far.

1. Paducah: 5.35″
2. Lexington: 5.01″
3. Nashville: 4.55″
4. Clarksville 3.99″
5. Evansville: 3.47″
6. Frankfort: 3.42″
7. Jackson: 2.54″
8. London: 2.26″
9. Louisville: 1.61″
10. Bowling Green: 1.58″

Bowling Green ended up coming in as the driest right behind Louisville. Next, I took the official rainfall totals for each town and plotted them on a map showing radar-estimated precipitation amounts around the area to get a better idea of what is going on.

Overall, there is not much of a distinct rainfall trend due to the majority of the state’s precipitation coming from hit-or-miss storms during this period. However, an area of slightly slower precipitation totals extends into central Kentucky and eastern Tennessee. The splotches of green you can see on the map indicate areas that have seen less than 2 inches of rain.

Areas shaded in red indicate where the radar thinks 5″+ of rain has fallen. Notice Bowling Green is sandwiched in between two areas of heavier rainfall totals. Let’s take a closer look:

The area of lowest precipitation values runs along and east of I-65 in Warren County right where the official rainfall totals are measured at the Bowling Green Airport.

Yep…looks like we have a bubble sighting. Areas in the eastern part of the county have definitely seen less precipitation than many places across the state. The city of Bowling Green sits right on the edge of this ‘bubble’.

To truly determine whether the Bowling Green Bubble is fact or fiction, this will be an interesting trend to follow. We will keep an eye on precipitation amounts over the next few months to get a better idea if this phenomena holds up through the summer.