Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 250

May 2, 20084 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 2, 2008, 10:44 AM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 9 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2008, 10:44 AM CDT (15:44 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2008, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 9 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 45 counties

Alexander County, IL, Edwards County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hamilton County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Johnson County, IL, Massac County, IL, Pope County, IL, Pulaski County, IL, Saline County, IL, Wabash County, IL, Wayne County, IL, White County, IL, Gibson County, IN, Pike County, IN, Posey County, IN, Spencer County, IN, Vanderburgh County, IN, Warrick County, IN, Ballard County, KY, Caldwell County, KY, Calloway County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Christian County, KY, Crittenden County, KY, Daviess County, KY, Fulton County, KY, Graves County, KY, Henderson County, KY, Hickman County, KY, Hopkins County, KY, Livingston County, KY, Lyon County, KY, Marshall County, KY, McCracken County, KY, McLean County, KY, Muhlenberg County, KY, Todd County, KY, Trigg County, KY, Union County, KY, Webster County, KY, Mississippi County, MO, New Madrid County, MO, Scott County, MO, Stoddard County, MO

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:45 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

17 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 10:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Hopkins, Muhlenberg	30 min
May 2, 10:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Spencer	40 min
May 2, 10:57 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Alexander, Pulaski	2 hr
May 2, 11:37 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Saline	3 hr
May 2, 12:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	49 min
May 2, 1:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Fulton, Hickman	54 min
May 2, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Graves	26 min
May 2, 2:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	30 min
May 2, 2:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway, Marshall	33 min
May 2, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Lyon, Trigg	30 min
May 2, 3:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Caldwell, Trigg	24 min
May 2, 3:11 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Daviess, Hopkins, McLean, Webster	3 hr
May 2, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Graves	20 min
May 2, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Marshall	23 min
May 2, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Carlisle, Hickman	30 min
May 2, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway	27 min
May 2, 7:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Graves, McCracken	32 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 250 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: 20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -353 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 872 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 5:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Pike	5 hr
May 2, 9:48 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland and 13 more	117 min
May 2, 11:05 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jo Daviess	115 min
May 2, 12:12 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope and 2 more	2 hr
May 2, 3:05 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Champaign, DeKalb, DeWitt and 30 more	115 min
May 2, 3:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Christian, Edmonson and 15 more	85 min
May 1, 7:24 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, Bates, Buchanan, Caldwell, Cass, Clay and 12 more	66 min
May 1, 10:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, Atchison, Barton, Bates, Buchanan, Caldwell and 34 more	116 min
May 1, 11:29 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Andrew, Audrain, Barton, Bates, Benton and 59 more	91 min
May 2, 12:53 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adair, Andrew, Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton and 46 more	6 hr
May 2, 4:22 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barry, Camden, Christian, Cole, Dallas, Greene and 12 more	53 min
May 2, 7:07 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Crawford, Dent, Franklin, Shannon, Warren	53 min
May 2, 8:49 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Dunklin, Pemiscot	6 hr
May 2, 10:20 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dunklin, Pemiscot	85 min
May 2, 1:54 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Pemiscot	6 hr
May 2, 4:43 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bedford, Benton, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee and 27 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2008 Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2008 Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2008 Every tornado watch in 2008

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.