Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2013
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Louisville, KY
NWS Louisville, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 2013, 2:40 PM CDT for 4 counties in Kentucky. It was in force for 30 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
- May 21, 2013, 2:40 PM CDT (19:40 UTC)
- Expired
- May 21, 2013, 3:10 PM CDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Louisville, KY
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Hail
- 0.75 in
- Wind
- 60.0 mph
Counties Adair County, KY, Clinton County, KY, Cumberland County, KY, Russell County, KY
The radar
The Louisville radar (KLVX), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:42 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 151 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2248 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -33 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 675 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -31 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 12 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 21, 2:31 PM CDT, 9 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 21, 2:31 PM CDT, 9 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 331 PM EDT TUE MAY 21 2013 .Short Term (Tonight through Wednesday night)... Issued at 315 PM EDT Tue May 21 2013 A difficult and complicated forecast as a storm system approaches from the Plains... A parade of MCSs has taken shape in the WSW flow from the southern Plains into the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. One MCS dissipated as it moved across Kentucky this morning, and the next MCS in line has a leading convective line extending from just SE of Elizabethtown, southward into middle Tennessee. Near-severe wind gusts have been observed already, and the potential remains for SVR winds in an unstable and mostly unidirectionally-sheared environment. Hail is a lesser threat, and tornado threat will be very minimal. Expect showers and storms to continue for the next few hours, and will try to delineate between the more numerous storms south of the Bluegrass Parkway and the hit-and-miss activity that remains possible farther north, but has not developed yet. The evening looks to be dry as the heating of the day will be lost, and we will be in a lull between systems. POPs will ramp up again toward morning, especially in the west as low-level jetting increases and fuels yet another MCS. Tomorrow morning will look fairly similar to this morning, only with the MCS closer to central Kentucky and probably lasting longer as the low-level jet is a bit more persistent just ahead of the front. MCS should still weaken or dissipate by midday, but will again leave behind plenty of boundaries in an juicy environment. This bodes well for re-development in the heat of the afternoon, which supports likely POPs again. Precip will diminish from west to east, mainly Wednesday evening as the front pushes in and deeper moisture is shunted to our south and east. Not much confidence in the temp forecast as it will be modulated by clouds and precip. Expect mins in the lower/mid 60s, with daytime temps hitting 80. Max temps have the higher bust potential, as too much rain will keep us in the mid 70s, while substantial breaks of sunshine will give us mid 80s. .Long Term (Thursday - Tuesday)... Issued at 300 PM EDT Tue May 21 2013 At the start of the long-term period, the slow moving cold front that is currently across the Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley will be exiting our forecast area to the east. The convection associated with the front will be pushed east and we should start Thursday dry. However, the upper trough axis will be swinging across the forecast area during the afternoon hours. Believe some low-topped showers will develop in afternoon, which could produce locally gusty winds. There could be some thunder with these showers, but it will be isolated as cloud tops will be around or just slightly above the freezing level. Breezy southwest winds will become northwesterly through the day Thursday, with high temperatures ranging from the upper 60s to middle 70s. Distinctly cooler air with low dewpoints will continue through the weekend, as high pressure of Canadian origin builds southward through the Mississippi Valley Friday and into the Ohio Valley for the holiday weekend. Despite clearing skies, Friday will stay quite cool, with highs ranging from the middle 60s to right around 70 degrees. Temperatures will slowly moderate to low 70s in our north to upper 70s in our south by Sunday, as ridging aloft edges back over the Ohio Valley. Overnight lows during the weekend will be rather cool with the low humidity. Expect lows around 50 degrees Saturday morning, rising into the middle 50s Sunday morning. By late Sunday, ridging will strengthen across the southern Plains, with northwest flow aloft developing across the Ohio Valley. A warm front will move northward across the forecast area, with moisture beginning to pool late Sunday along and north of this boundary. The warm front is expected to stretch along a line from Iowa southeast through northern Kentucky Monday and shift north Tuesday. However, there is a lot of model spread associated with the placement of this boundary. The placement is significant because isolated to scattered convection is expected to periodically develop along this boundary and propagate in waves southeastward late Sunday through Monday and perhaps even into Tuesday. This will spread showers and storms across the region, but timing and locations to be impacted are much in question. So, will continue with the running forecast of a slight chance. As for temperatures Monday through Tuesday, we should see a warm up if heights aloft increase and the warm front lifts north. Will go with high temperatures ranging from the middle 70s to lower 80s, but this has a high bust potential if waves of storms track across the region and cloud cover inundates the forecast area. && .Aviation (18Z TAF Issuance)... Issued at 115 PM EDT Tue May 21 2013 Still a tricky TAF set, but we seem to be coming into line with previously advertised conditions as we get enough sunshine to support heating. Will initialize BWG with VCTS as a cluster of storms makes its way east along the KY/TN border. Any direct impact on the airport will be too brief to carry in the TAF. Convection has yet to get going near SDF or LEX, but as temperatures warm we do expect scattered storms to develop. As we are still a few degrees shy of convective temps, will keep with the previous idea of introducing VCTS beginning around 20-21Z. Still looking for this activity to diminish after sunset with the loss of heating. Will re-introduce precip as prevailing TSRA around or just after midnight as the nose of a 40-50 kt low-level jet finds its way into Kentucky. Will most likely see brief restrictions of MVFR or even IFR later in the night, but look for prevailing VFR for the vast majority of the time. The latter few hours of the TAFs on Wednesday morning will be a lull between complexes, with dry weather and VFR conditions. Only real concern in this period will be SSW winds gusting into the 20-25 kt range. && .LMK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IN...NONE. KY...NONE. Short Term.......RAS Long Term........MJP Aviation.........RAS
Hazardous weather outlook, May 21, 10:36 AM CDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 21, 1:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Louisville, KY issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 6:17 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Jefferson | 43 min |
| May 21, 7:02 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Henry, Oldham, Trimble | 28 min |
| May 21, 1:20 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Barren | 30 min |
| May 21, 1:46 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Green, Hart, Larue, Metcalfe, Monroe | 29 min |
| May 21, 2:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LMK | Larue, Marion, Nelson | 25 min |
| May 21, 2:15 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Adair, Cumberland, Green, Marion, Metcalfe, Taylor | 30 min |
| May 21, 2:30 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Nelson | 15 min |
| May 21, 2:45 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Adair, Marion, Nelson, Taylor, Washington | 20 min |
| May 21, 2:46 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Clinton | 19 min |
| May 21, 3:04 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Boyle, Casey, Mercer, Russell, Washington | 31 min |
| May 21, 3:21 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Anderson, Boyle, Casey, Franklin, Lincoln, Mercer and 1 more | 29 min |
| May 21, 3:48 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Garrard, Jessamine, Lincoln and 3 more | 27 min |
| May 21, 4:15 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Bourbon, Clark, Harrison, Scott | 30 min |
| May 21, 4:40 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Harrison, Nicholas | 30 min |
| May 21, 1:55 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Dubois | 45 min |
| May 21, 2:18 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Orange | 27 min |
| May 21, 2:46 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Crawford, Perry, Scott, Washington | 29 min |
| May 21, 5:13 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | LMK | Dubois, Orange | 47 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 2013Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2013
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.