Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Paducah, KY

February 28, 1997Ballard County, Kentucky; Pulaski County, Illinois

NWS Paducah, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 28, 1997, 4:40 PM CST for Ballard County, Kentucky; Pulaski County, Illinois. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 28, 1997, 4:40 PM CST (22:40 UTC)
Expired: Feb 28, 1997, 5:15 PM CST
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Paducah, KY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Pulaski County, IL, Ballard County, KY

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 27 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:42 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 269 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 284 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Feb 28, 1:06 PM CST, 3 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 1:06 PM CST, 3 hours 34 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
115 PM CST FRI FEB 28 1997

POPS AND QPF ARE THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEMS THROUGH SATURDAY.
STRENGTHENING SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH
SATURDAY. 850 JET WILL INCREASE TO BETWEEN 40 AND 50 KNOTS
TONIGHT...ADVECTING VERY MOIST GULF AIR NORTHWARD. FWC DEW POINTS
INCREASE TO AROUND 60 DEGREES BY 18Z SATURDAY...WHICH MAY BE A
BIT CONSERVATIVE IN VIEW OF 70 DEGREE DEW POINTS CURRENTLY POISED
ALONG THE GULF COAST. PREFER ETA 1000 MB DEW POINTS...WHICH RISE
INTO THE MID 60S OVER WRN KENTUCKY SATURDAY.

TSRA DEVELOPED IN STRONG 850 MB WARM AIR ADVECTION ZONE ACROSS
CENTRAL AND WESTERN ARKANSAS. THIS ACTIVITY MAY REDEVELOP NORTHEAST
ACROSS THE FA THIS EVENING AS LOW LEVEL THETA-E ADVECTION INCREASES.
ETA/NGM INDICATE DEEPER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BE EAST OF THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER...AND THIS IS REFLECTED IN THE QPF OF BOTH MODELS
TONIGHT. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF ACTIVITY INCREASES IN COVERAGE
AS IT REACHES THE FA TONIGHT. MODEL QPF SEEMS A LITTLE UNDERDONE
CONSIDERING THE COPIOUS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SUPPLY AVAILABLE.

LOW CLOUD DECK OVER ARKANSAS AND WEST TENNESSEE HAS BEEN MAKING
STEADY PROGRESS NORTHWARD...AND SHOULD OVERSPREAD THE FA THIS EVENING.
CLOUDS AND SOUTH WINDS SHOULD HOLD TEMPS AT OR ABOVE FWC LOWS TONIGHT.
LOWS MAY OCCUR EARLY TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY IN RAIN COOLED AREAS.

FORECAST PROBLEM FOR SATURDAY IS SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL. ETA IS
FASTER WITH ITS MOVEMENT OF THE COLD FRONT...TAKING IT TO NEAR CGI
BY 00Z. BOTH MODELS SHOW AXIS OF STRONGEST INSTABILITY ALONG THE LOWER
OHIO VALLEY AT 00Z. MUCH WILL DEPEND ON HOW MUCH DIURNAL HEATING
OCCURS...I.E. WHETHER LOW CLOUDS BREAK. WIND FIELDS WILL BE QUITE
IMPRESSIVE....HOWEVER BEST UPPER DYNAMICS AND MOISTURE WILL BE WELL
TO THE SOUTH. ANY MCS DEVELOPMENT OVER THE GULF COAST REGION COULD
UNDERMINE DEVELOPMENT FURTHER NORTH. SPC OUTLOOK FOR DAY 2 LOOKS
REASONABLE...PLACING HIGHER RISK SOUTH OF THE FA.

WITH HIGH SOIL MOISTURE AND RIVER LEVELS...WILL HAVE TO MONITOR FLOOD
POTENTIAL WITH THIS SYSTEM.

YORK

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 28, 3:38 PM CST, 1 hour 2 minutes before

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Local storm report, Feb 28, 3:39 PM CST, 1 hour 1 minute before

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Local storm report, Feb 28, 3:57 PM CST, 43 minutes before

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Local storm report, Feb 28, 3:58 PM CST, 42 minutes before

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Local storm report, Feb 28, 4:35 PM CST, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
435 PM CST FRI FEB 28 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0415 PM    SIKESTON                  MO   .5 INCH HAIL
02/28/97   SCOTT                          REPORTED BY SCOTT CO. DES

RJP

Local storm report, Feb 28, 4:36 PM CST, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
435 PM CST FRI FEB 28 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0415 PM    SIKESTON                  MO   .5 INCH HAIL
02/28/97   SCOTT                          REPORTED BY SCOTT CO. DES

RJP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 28, 3:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Carlisle, Hickman	52 min
Feb 28, 5:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	McLean	37 min
Feb 28, 2:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	42 min
Feb 28, 3:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Butler, Ripley	48 min
Feb 28, 3:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Mississippi	35 min
Feb 28, 3:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Scott, Stoddard	53 min
Feb 28, 4:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 1997 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.