You read that title correctly! A cold and cloudy Derby day in Louisville on Saturday only allowed us to warm up to 56 degrees for the afternoon high temperature. Luckily we avoided most of the rain around our area other than a few sprinkles, but that 56 degree high was important. Why? Because that means that Derby 152 was the coldest derby day since 1989! There hasn't been a Derby as cool as yesterday was in 37 years!
In 1989, Louisville reached a high of only 51 degrees and there was even sleet reported falling early in the afternoon for a few minutes! Other cooler Derby days include 1997 when we hit 60 degrees (along with 0.22" of rain) and 2009 when it was 62 degrees and 0.07" of rain fell.
Our average high for Derby is usually around the mid 70s so you can see why this one stood out among from the others! The coldest Derby we have ever had was 47° back on May 4, 1935 and May 4, 1957. That was the high temperature. The coldest temperature in general was those same days when our low was 36°!
