Alert archive / Kentucky / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Louisville, KY

August 17, 1987Adair County, Kentucky

NWS Louisville, KY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 17, 1987, 3:25 PM CDT for Adair County, Kentucky. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 17, 1987, 3:25 PM CDT (20:25 UTC)
Expired
Aug 17, 1987, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Louisville, KY
Area
Whole counties

County Adair 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 160 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1987-08-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1979 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1987-08-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 64 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1979 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
926 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSDF 172025
FFWSDF
KYC001-172330-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
425 PM EDT MON AUG 17 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY
          ...ADAIR
 
AT 420 PM EDT FLASH FLOODING HAD BEEN REPORTED IN COLUMBIA AND WATER
WAS MOVING DOWN RUSSELL CREEK AND WILL BE MOVING INTO THE MILLTOWN
AREA AROUND 430 PM EDT. HEAVY RAINS HAVE OCCURRED THROUGHOUT ADAIR
COUNTY DURING THE DAY WITH REPORTS OF 4 1/2 INCHES IN COLUMBIA
EARLIER TODAY. THIS RAINFALL  FROM EARLIER TODAY AND THAT OCCURRING
THIS EVENING WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ON MANY OF THE STREAMS AND
CREEKS IN ADAIR COUNTY EARLY THIS EVENING.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATERQ SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
SCHOLZ

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, Aug 17, 10:12 AM CDT, 5 hours 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
1110 AM EDT MON AUG 17 1987

...MORE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN SOUTHCENTRAL KENTUCKY...

AT 11 AM EDT...THUNDERSTORMS HAD REDEVELOPED IN PARTS OF BOYLE...CASEY
AND MARION COUNTIES OF SOUTHCENTRAL KENTUCKY.  THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL
BE MOVING INTO CASEY AND LINCOLN COUNTIES INCLUDING THE CITIES OF
LIBERTY AND STANFORD...WHICH ARE ABOUT 45 MILES NORTHWEST OF LONDON.

IN THE REST OF THE COMMONWEALTH...CONSIDERABLE CLOUDINESS WILL BE NOTED
WITH THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN MANY AREAS AS A COLD FRONT
MOVES INTO THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON.
KIRKPATRICK
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 12:16 PM CDT, 3 hours 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LEXINGTON KY
115 PM EDT MON AUG 17 1987

...TWO THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING THROUGH THE EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY
    SURROUNDING LEXINGTON...

AT 1:15 PM EDT WEATHER RADAR WAS SHOWING TWO THUNDERSTORMS IN
THE EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY AREA.  ONE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED JUST
EAST OF RICHMOND KENTUCKY IN MADISON COUNTY...22 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
LEXINGTON.  THE SECOND THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR THE CORNER WHERE
WASHINGTON...ANDERSON...AND MERCER COUNTIES INTERSECT...25 MILES WEST
SOUTHWEST OF LEXINGTON.

BOTH THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS IN ESTILL COUNTY AND NORTHERN MERCER AND SOUTHERN WOODFORD
COUNTIES SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR RAINSHOWERS...GUSTY WINDS AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING STRIKES AS THE THUNDERSTORMS APPROACH THOSE
AREAS BY 2:00 PM EDT.
<
MHOON
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 2:11 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
305 PM EDT MON AUG 17 1987

...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING RAPIDLY IN NORTHERN KENTUCKY...

AT 300 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR WAS TRACKING A LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS THAT HAD DEVELOPED RAPIDLY IN NORTHERN KENTUCKY.   THE
LINE STRETCHED FROM COVINGTON SOUTHWEST THROUGH LOUISVILLE AND TO SOUTH
OF THE OWENSBORO AREA.  THE STRONGEST STORM IN THIS LINE APPEARED TO
BE MOVING INTO BUTLER COUNTY NEAR MORGANTOWN...20 MILES NORTHWEST OF
BOWLING GREEN.

MEANWHILE...MORE RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO THE SOMERSET
AREA OF PULASKI COUNTY...25 MILES WEST OF LONDON.  VERY HEAVY RAIN
DURING THE MORNING IN SOMERSET HAD SET THE STAGE FOR POSSIBLE FLASH
FLOODING IN THAT PART OF THE STATE.  ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL RESULT
IN RAPID SMALL STREAM AND CREEK RISES AND FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND
URBAN AREAS.  IF YOU LIVE IN PULASKI COUNTY OR THE NEAR BY COUNTIES OF
RUSSELL...ADAIR OR CASEY COUNTIES...PLEASE MONITOR WEATHER RADIO...
OR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
KIRKPATRICK
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 3:04 PM CDT, 21 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
400 PM EDT MON AUG 17 1987

...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING OVER NORTHERN KENTUCKY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
ACROSS NORTHERN KENTUCKY.  THE LINE STRETCHES FROM NEAR COVINGTON
SOUTHWEST THROUGH LOUISVILLE THEN FURTHER SOUTHWEST TO THE
OWENSBORO AREA.  THE STRONGEST STORM IN THIS LINE APPEARED IN
TRIMBLE COUNTY..30 MILES NORTHEAT OF LOUISVILLE.

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTOMS WERE PRESENT OVER CENTRAL AND SOTHEAST
KENTUCKY.  VERY HEAVY RAIN DURINT THE MORNING IN SOMERSET HAD SET
THE STAGE FOR POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODING IN THAT PART OF THE STATE.
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL RESULT IN RAPID SMALL STREAM AND CREEK
RISES AND FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND URBAN AREAS.  IF YOU LIVE IN
PULASKI COUNTY OR THE NEARBY COUNTIES OF RUSSELL...ADAIR OR CASEY
COUNTIES...PLEASE MONITOR WEATHER RADIO...
OR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST FOR LATER STATEMENT;S OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
CF

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kentucky, 1987Every 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.