Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2020
Tornado Watch 193
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 18, 2020, 1:18 PM CDT for 54 counties in Kentucky; 28 counties in Ohio. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 18, 2020, 1:18 PM CDT (18:18 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 2020, 8:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 50 kt
All 82 counties
Adair County, KY, Bath County, KY, Bell County, KY, Bourbon County, KY, Boyle County, KY, Bracken County, KY, Breathitt County, KY, Campbell County, KY, Carter County, KY, Casey County, KY, Clark County, KY, Clay County, KY, Clinton County, KY, Cumberland County, KY, Elliott County, KY, Estill County, KY, Fayette County, KY, Fleming County, KY, Garrard County, KY, Greenup County, KY, Harlan County, KY, Harrison County, KY, Jackson County, KY, Jessamine County, KY, Knott County, KY, Knox County, KY, Laurel County, KY, Lee County, KY, Leslie County, KY, Lewis County, KY, Lincoln County, KY, Madison County, KY, Magoffin County, KY, Mason County, KY, McCreary County, KY, Menifee County, KY, Mercer County, KY, Montgomery County, KY, Morgan County, KY, Nicholas County, KY, Owsley County, KY, Pendleton County, KY, Perry County, KY, Powell County, KY, Pulaski County, KY, Robertson County, KY, Rockcastle County, KY, Rowan County, KY, Russell County, KY, Scott County, KY, Wayne County, KY, Whitley County, KY, Wolfe County, KY, Woodford County, KY, Adams County, OH, Brown County, OH, Champaign County, OH, Clark County, OH, Clermont County, OH, Clinton County, OH, Delaware County, OH, Fairfield County, OH, Fayette County, OH, Franklin County, OH, Greene County, OH, Hardin County, OH, Highland County, OH, Hocking County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Knox County, OH, Licking County, OH, Logan County, OH, Madison County, OH, Marion County, OH, Morrow County, OH, Pickaway County, OH, Pike County, OH, Ross County, OH, Scioto County, OH, Union County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Warren County, OH
The radar
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:20 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 5%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 40%
Warnings issued inside it
10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LMK | Fayette, Jessamine | 29 min |
| May 18, 2:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN | Lewis, Mason | 48 min |
| May 18, 3:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LMK | Clinton, Cumberland, Russell | 27 min |
| May 18, 3:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LMK | Garrard, Lincoln | 37 min |
| May 18, 3:30 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LMK | Fayette | 2 hr |
| May 18, 3:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILN | Franklin, Madison, Pickaway | 24 min |
| May 18, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILN | Franklin, Madison | 21 min |
| May 18, 4:39 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | JKL | Pulaski, Rockcastle | 3 hr |
| May 18, 4:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Pulaski, Rockcastle | 33 min |
| May 18, 5:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Jackson, Laurel, Rockcastle | 36 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
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 53 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
- 230 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -62 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1122 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 200 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 171 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 12:46 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bath, Bourbon, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt and 42 more | 119 min |
| May 18, 3:32 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bath, Bourbon, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Campbell and 41 more | 88 min |
| May 18, 6:20 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Breathitt, Carter, Clark and 28 more | 115 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2020Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2020Every tornado watch in 2020
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.