Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Louisville, KY

May 5, 1999Breckinridge County, Kentucky; Perry County, Indiana

NWS Louisville, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1999, 7:20 PM CDT for Breckinridge County, Kentucky; Perry County, Indiana. It was in force for 45 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 1999, 7:20 PM CDT (00:20 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1999, 8:05 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Perry County, IN, Breckinridge County, KY

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 5, 7:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Tell City, IN	Power lines down
May 5, 7:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Stephensport, KY	Power poles down

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 5, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 200 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: 1420 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 637 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 67 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 193 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 210 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.7
Supercell composite: 4.4

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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 5, 2:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 5, 2:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE, KY
300 PM EDT WED MAY 5 1999

STG S/WV AND JET MAX ROTATING THRU BASE OF DEEP CNTRL U.S. UPR LOW
WL PLAY HAVOC WITH CNTRL KY AND SC IND WX TNGT. THIS IS MAIN FCST
PROBLEM. SHORT TERM MODELS IN BASIC AGREEMENT SHWG RPD EXPANSION OF
LARGE SCALE ASCENT AND HIGH MEAN RH AREA ACRS AR THIS AFTN AND THEN
ACRS OH AND TN VLYS TNGT. ASCENT ALG WITH VERY UNSTBL AMS (LI VALUES
BELOW -6 CURRENTLY) ACRS LWR MS VLY INTO LWR OH VLY AND INCRSG VERTICAL
SHEAR WITH APCH OF MID-LVL JET MAX ALREADY RESULTING IN RPD CNVCTV
DVLPMT OVR AR. WITH STG UPR-LVL FLOW...TSTMS WL RACE NEWD INTO WRN
PARTS OF CNTRL KY THIS EVNG THEN OVRSPREAD ENTIRE FCST AREA THEREAFTER.
ETA MODEL IS PREFERRED IN SHWG THIS EVOLUTION.

WIND DAMAGE AND HAIL POTNL SEEMS RATHER HIGH THIS EVNG OVR WRN
KY...AND HV INCLUDED MENTION OF SVR IN SW PORTION OF FCST AREA. LATE
THIS EVNG AND OVRNGT...HAIL POTNL WL DIMINISH AS ATMOS SATURATES UP
AND CNVCTN EVOLVES INTO LARGER SCALE MCS. WIND DAMAGE POTNTL ALSO
MAY DIMINISH SOME...BUT STILL STG/PERHAPS SVR WIND GUSTS STILL XPCTD
WITH STGR CELLS OVR MUCH OF THE REST OF CNTRL KY AND SC IND.
THUS...LOOKS LIKE AN ACTV EVNG AND NGT.

ETA/AVN ARE FAVORED THURS WHICH SHOW AGGRESSIVE UPR DRY SLOW QUICKLY
PUSHING RAIN OUT OF CNTRL KY DURG MRNG. NGM APRS TO LAG BACK MSTR
TOO LONG. HWVR...LO-LVL MSTR AND CLDS SHLD LINGER INTO AFTN BFR
BREAKS IN CLDS OCR. THEN THURS NGT...ANOTHER S/WV...ALBEIT WEAKER
AND FLATTER...ROTATES NEWD AGN ACRS OH/TN VLYS. AGN FEEL THAT NGM IS
DVLPG PCPN TOO FAR W AND FAVOR ETA/AVN GIVEN XPCTD POSN OF SFC "DRY
LINE" OVR CNTRL KY. THUS...HV INCLUDED MENTION OF SCT SHWRS/TSTMS
THURS NGT ONLY OVR SERN PORTION OF FCST AREA AT THIS TIME.

ON FRI...AVN SHOWS SOME MSTR WRAPPED ARND UPR LOW SCOOTING E ALG/NR
OH RVR DURG DAY. CLD SEE SOME MDT CU DVLPMT IN AFTN WITH A CHC OF
SHWRS. HV LEFT SC KY DRY ON FRI HWVR. GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE
DURG FCST PD.

.SDF...NONE.
FUNK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 7:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Breckinridge, Meade	31 min
May 5, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Allen, Simpson	32 min
May 5, 10:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Monroe	35 min
May 5, 11:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clinton, Cumberland	47 min
May 5, 11:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Logan	35 min
May 5, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Harrison	32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 1999 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1999 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1999

Sources

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