Alert archive / Kentucky / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Louisville, KY

July 13, 1987Fayette County, Kentucky

NWS Louisville, KY issued this flash flood warning at Jul 13, 1987, 3:05 PM EDT for Fayette County, Kentucky. It was in force for 55 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 13, 1987, 3:05 PM EDT (19:05 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 1987, 4:00 PM EDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

County Fayette County, KY

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 175 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 511 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 881 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 47 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KLEX 131905
FFWLEX
KYC067-132000-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LEXINGTON KY
305 PM EDT MON JUL 13 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM EDT AND A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY
          ...FAYETTE
 
AT 305PM EDT RADAR WAS INDICATING A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING EAST
INTO FAYETTE COUNTY. FLOODING WAS OCCURING IN LOWER LYING AREAS AS
THE STORM PASSED.
I
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. PREPARE NOW FOR SEVERE WEATHER. PEOPLE
OUTDOORS SHOULD MOVE TO A SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY...PREFER2ABLY
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. STAY AWAY FROM ALL WINDOWS. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE
WARNING...SO BE ALERT. SEVERE WEATHER IS IN YOUR AREA.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 13, 2:10 PM EDT, 55 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
205 PM EDT MON JUL 13 1987

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MOS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY
   UNTIL 8 PM EDT THE EVENING...

THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED OVER CENTRAL AND EASTERN KENTUCKY AT 2PM.
THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE LOCATED IN A LINE FROM TOMPKINSVILLE IN MONROE
COUNTY NORTH TO CORYDON IN HARRISON COUNTY INDIANA.  THESE STORMS ARE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG WINDS AND POSSIBLY SOME
SMALL HAIL AS THEY MOVE EAST AROUND 20 MPH.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER CENTRAL AND EASTERN KENTUCKY FOR THE
NEXT FEW HOURS. OVER THE REST OF THE STATE WARM AND HUMID WEATHER
WILL PREVAIL.

AMMERMAN*

Special weather statement, Jul 13, 2:45 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LEXINGTON KY
240 PM EDT MON JUL 13 1987

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TILL 8 PM EDT TONIGHT...

NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DOTTED EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY
AT 2 35 PM.

RADAR SHOWED A NORTH SOUTH LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN
LOUISVILLE AND LEXINGTON MOVING EAST A 25 MPH.  THIS LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED WIND GUSTS TO 43 MPH AT AIRPORT IN
LOUISVILLE AS IT PASSED OVER.  ALSO BRIEF TORRENTIAL RAIN HAS
OCCURRED WITH THUNDERSTORMS IN EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE WEST OF LEXINGTON WILL MOVE
INTO PORTIONS OF FRANKLIN..ANDERSON AND BOYLE COUNTIES BY ABOUT
3 PM EDT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Louisville, KY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 3:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Fayette	55 min
Jul 13, 3:38 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Franklin, Scott	42 min
Jul 13, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Laurel, Whitley	40 min
Jul 13, 6:58 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Jefferson	2 hr
Jul 13, 7:43 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Bullitt, Nelson, Spencer	2 hr
Jul 13, 7:43 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Shelby	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kentucky, 1987 Every flash flood warning in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.