Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 48, NWS Jackson, KY

May 1, 2002Pulaski County, Kentucky

NWS Jackson, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 2002, 7:48 PM EDT for Pulaski County, Kentucky. It was in force for 57 min. 5 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 1, 2002, 7:48 PM EDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 2002, 8:45 PM EDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, KY
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Pulaski County, KY

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 130 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 1, 7:54 PM EDT	Hail 2.75	Liberty, KY
May 1, 7:55 PM EDT	Hail 2	Yosemite, KY	Windows were knocked out of buildings.
May 1, 8:05 PM EDT	Hail 4.5	Waynesburg, KY
May 1, 8:13 PM EDT	Hail 4.5	Countywide, KY	During the evening of May 1st, a severe thunderstorm moved southeast across much of Pulaski county. A large swath of golfball to softball size hail pounded much of the county causing considerable damage to numerous homes and automobiles. Downed trees due to s
May 1, 8:14 PM EDT	Hail 2.75	Kings Mtn, KY

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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

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 1, 4:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 210 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: 216 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -136 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 591 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KJKL 012348
SVRJKL
KYC199-020045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...BASEBALL TO SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL LIKELY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
746 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON KY HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  PULASKI COUNTY

* UNTIL 845 PM EDT

* AT 746 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 21 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF SCIENCE HILL...OR  14 MILES SOUTHWEST OF STANFORD...
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  FAUBUSH AROUND 805 PM EDT
  SCIENCE HILL AROUND 810 PM EDT
  SHOPVILLE AROUND 815 PM EDT
  BURNSIDE AROUND 820 PM EDT

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM EDT WEDNESDAY EVENING
FOR EASTERN KENTUCKY.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WINDS UP TO 100 MPH 
AND HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF SOFTBALLS.

IF YOU ARE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...MOVE TO A SUBSTANTIAL
SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM PASSES.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE JACKSON WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE.

LAT...LON 3756 8491 3741 8502 3705 8492 3690 8459
          3716 8428 3735 8450

HEINLEIN

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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 1, 2:55 PM EDT, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 2:55 PM EDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
255 PM EDT WED MAY 01 2002

LOT OF THINGS TO THINK ABOUT. CHALLENGES CENTER AROUND POPS AND
SVR/HVY RAIN THREAT. AT THIS TIME...IT APPEARS THAT THE BOUNDARY
THAT HAD MADE IT DOWN INTO THE CWA FROM THE N LAST NIGHT HAS MOVED
UP ALONG THE OH RIVER. THE WARM FRONT THAT WAS TO OUR S THIS MORNING
HAS SURGED N AND IS NOW LOCATED FROM THE CONFLUENCE OF THE OH AND MS
RIVERS TO JUST N OF LOZ AND OVER INTO SE NC. CONVECTION IS BEGINNING
TO FIRE JUST N OF THE FRONT NEAR NOSE OF 850 JET. MORE CONVECTION
SHOULD CONTINUE TO FIRE ALONG AND N OF THIS BOUNDARY TONIGHT WITH
GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFT OVER THE BOUNDARY ON STRENGTHENING LLJ. IT
APPEARS THAT THE NORTHERN PART OF THE CWA WOULD HAVE THE GREATEST
THREAT OF HVY RAIN AND SEVERE WEATHER FOR MOST OF THE NIGHT
DEPENDING ON HOW FAR NORTH THE WARM FRONT EVENTUALLY GETS. THEY WILL
BE CLOSEST TO SFC LOW TRACK AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS WILL BE BEST
THERE. THERE ALSO APPEARS TO BE SOME THREAT TOMORROW OF SVR WX AND
LOCALLY HVY RAIN UNTIL THE FRONT CROSSES THE REGION. THE SFC COLD
FRONT WILL GRADUALLY CROSS THE REGION DURING THE DAY. WILL ALSO
MENTION RAIN HEAVY BOTH LATER TONIGHT AND ON THURSDAY AS PWS PEAK
NEAR 1.5. STORMS WILL BE RATHER PROGRESSIVE AND FLOOD THREAT SHOULD
BE MORE LOCALIZED.

FEEL THAT THE LOW WILL DEEPEN A LITTLE MORE AS SHORTWAVE DROPS DOWN
FROM THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THE PRESENCE OF THIS SHORTWAVE WILL
ENHANCE DIVERGENCE OVER THE REGION...ESPECIALLY TO OUR N...GIVING AN
ENHANCED HVY RAIN THREAT ALONG AND N OF THE OH RIVER. WITH THE
FAIRLY STRONG LOW...TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL BE ACROSS THE
REGION AND WILL MENTION BREEZY LATER TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. THE AVN
SPEED SEEMED A BIT FAST AND HAVE NOT BOUGHT INTO IT. SOMETHING MORE
IN LINE WITH THE 12Z ETA LOOKS TO BE CLOSER TO REALITY.

HAVE KEPT IN CHANCE OF SHOWERS ON SAT AND ADDED SLIGHT CHANCE TO THE
N. WILL ALSO INTRODUCE CHANCE S AND SLIGHT CHANCE LATE FRI NIGHT. AS
FRONT STALLS TO OUR S...PM MCS DEVELOPMENT TO OUR SW APPEARS
REASONABLE WITH IT TRAVERSING INTO TN AND SKIRTING OUR SOUTHERN
COUNTIES.

EXTENDED...RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE EASTERN UNITED STATES...WITH HIGH
HEIGHTS AND 8H TEMPS IN THE +14 TO 16 C RANGE...HAVE GONE ABOVE MEX
NUMBERS FOR TUE AND WED. FRONT DROPPING DOWN FROM THE N WILL BRING
AN ENHANCED PRECIP CHANCE ON MON. WITH SEVERAL HARD TO TIME
DISTURBANCES ROTATING AROUND THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE...AFTERNOON OR
EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE EACH DAY PARTICULARLY
FARTHER AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF THE RIDGE NEAR THE OH VALLEY.

WORK ZONES WILL BE OUT AS SDFOZFJKL BEFORE TOO LONG.

.JKL...SPS FOR ALL ZONES FOR THREAT OF SVR WX AND HVY RAIN.

PELTON

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.