Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2024
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 97, NWS Jackson, KY
NWS Jackson, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 2024, 3:04 PM EDT for Bell County, Harlan County, Kentucky. It was in force for 41 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
- Aug 2, 2024, 3:04 PM EDT (19:04 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 2, 2024, 3:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 41 min
- Issued by
- NWS Jackson, KY
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Hail
- 0.75 in
- Wind
- 60.0 mph
Counties Bell County, KY, Harlan County, KY
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:07 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 nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 292 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
- 1548 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -43 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 961 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 124 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 132 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 2.9
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 Aug 2, 2:07 PM EDT, 57 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Torrential rainfall in showers and thunderstorms pose an elevated risk of flash flooding across eastern Kentucky today, especially south of the Mountain Parkway.
- A threat for isolated strong to severe thunderstorms persists today with damaging wind gusts the main concern.
- Heat and humidity will be in place on Tuesday, with afternoon heat indices near 100 degrees in a few places.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 2:07 PM EDT, 57 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED National Weather Service Jackson KY 207 PM EDT Fri Aug 2 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Torrential rainfall in showers and thunderstorms pose an elevated risk of flash flooding across eastern Kentucky today, especially south of the Mountain Parkway. - A threat for isolated strong to severe thunderstorms persists today with damaging wind gusts the main concern. - Heat and humidity will be in place on Tuesday, with afternoon heat indices near 100 degrees in a few places. && .UPDATE... Issued at 1230 PM EDT FRI AUG 2 2024 An area of showers and some thunderstorms has moved across the area this morning, leading to gusty winds and heavy rain in some areas, especially the south. Behind this, some stabilization is occurring briefly, but only a couple hours of heating is leading to recovery with MLCAPE rising to at least 2000 J/kg as in the southwest. Meanwhile, effective shear is forecast to climb into the 25 to 30KT range. PW is analyzed in the 1.7 to 1.8 inch range. With the an upper level trough axis lingering off to the west and multiple perturbations to rotate across the area, additional activity is expected this afternoon and into the evening. Gusty to damaging winds will be favored with the instability and shear combination. Heavy rain will remain a threat with activity during the afternoon and into the evening and areas that experience multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms could have instances of flooding, mainly in the flood watch area. UPDATE Issued at 720 AM EDT FRI AUG 2 2024 Some morning showers and storms appeared poised to enter the area from the west. This could help to stabilize the area into the afternoon or leave behind a boundary that could become a focal point for additional more organized storm development. Have updated the near term forecast mainly to account for the current radar trends along with the latest CAMs notions. These adjustments have been sent to the NDFD and web servers. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) Issued at 500 AM EDT FRI AUG 2 2024 08Z sfc analysis shows weak low pressure through the northern Ohio Valley with an associated cold front to the northwest of the state. In the wake of the MCS that went through during last evening, some scattered convection has been able to drift east through the Cumberland Valley but remaining unorganized and not substantial. Skies are partly to mostly cloudy through the area with some clear patches allowing for fog development considering the ground moisture in place due to the recent rains. Currently, temperatures and dewpoints are rather uniform through the area in the upper 60s to lower 70s, amid light winds. The models, and their individual ensemble suites, are in terrific agreement aloft through the the short term portion of the forecast. They all depict a key trough driving through the southern Ohio Valley today and then off to the northeast of Kentucky on Saturday. This trough brings ample mid level energy and some decent 5h height falls to the region, particularly this afternoon. The tail to this elongating trough then only gradually retreats from the area on Saturday with ample energy remaining in the eastern parts of Kentucky through evening. Given the very small model spread have gone with the NBM as the starting point for the forecast grids with little adjustment needed aside from some incorporation of the latest CAMs guidance for PoPs through the period. Sensible weather features another couple of days with a fairly high threat of showers and thunderstorms. This will be driven by the high humidity (with PWS from 1.6 to 1.8 inches) and upper level support in place. The clouds and pcpn will keep temperatures capped and more tolerable than Thursday though humidity will remain quite sticky both today and Saturday. Storms will likely have a good chance to become organized and form clusters today (CAPE above 2k J/kg with some shear) which continues the threat of strong winds gusts and local excessive rains. For this reason, and given antecedent conditions for the southwestern 2/3rds of the CWA have kept the flood watch for this area into the early evening. For tonight, skies will remain rather cloudy with low stratus expected to fill in any breaks that develop, along with areas of fog - locally dense. This will also keep temperatures mild and fairly uniform through dawn Saturday. Convection will probably redevelop on Saturday with diurnal heating and favor the eastern portions of the JKL CWA. However, less CAPE will be available with weaker shear so any storms should struggle to become too robust or organized. The main changes to the NBM starting point consisted of adding in some PoP details from the CAMs through Saturday afternoon while limiting the higher values for our western counties on Saturday. Did not make much change to temperatures or dewpoints from the NBM through the period given the high humidity. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 415 AM EDT FRI AUG 2 2024 The 02/00z model suite 500H analysis shows a western ridge- eastern trough pattern in place at the beginning of the period. Specifically, a positively-tilted trough extends along the western slopes of the Appalachians from an ~540 dam low over northern Quebec. Meanwhile, an ~597 dam high is centered over the Central Rockies and is in control of the weather across much of the CONUS west of the Mississippi. At the surface, eastern Kentucky is under a post-frontal regime in the wake of Friday Night/Saturday's cold front, which extends from a weak low along the Mid-Atlantic Coast down to along the Central Gulf Coast. Further north, another front is stalled from the Upper Midwest across the northern Great Lakes and then arcing northward to an ~995 mb low over the Hudson Bay. High pressure is found between these two fronts across the Central Plains/mid-Mississippi Valley and also north of the boundary over the Canadian Prairie provinces. These high pressure systems will bring a much drier long-term period to eastern Kentucky than what we have seen recently, as the eastern through axis shifts further east and slowly fills while the western ridge expands eastward and also slowly subsides. Within this deamplifying pattern, the only notable weather-maker, and likely minor at that, will be passing upper level shortwave that will nudge the next cold front into/through the JKL CWA, most likely on next Wednesday. The front itself and its parent forcing appear anemic and the system lacks access to significant deep moisture. Therefore, PoPs are only in the 10 to 30 percent chance range on Wednesday and Thursday. Aside from the low-end threat for showers and thunderstorms with the cool front mid-week, the only other mentionable chance of rain in the forecast is early Saturday night as any leftover showers and storms fade and dissipate as the upper trough axis pulls away. High pressure rules the roost from Sunday through Tuesday with fair skies. After bottoming out on Saturday, temperatures will begin warming again, topping out in the mid 80s on Sunday, near 90 on Monday and lower 90s on Tuesday. Nighttime lows are forecast to range in the mid 60s to around 70. Those temperatures only cool a few degrees with the mid-week cold front, still making a run for highs in the mid to upper 80s on Thursday while nighttime lows cool off to the mid 60s. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) ISSUED AT 207 PM EDT FRI AUG 2 2024 Scattered to numerous showers and some thunderstorms will work across the region ahead of an approaching upper level trough and cold front, with coverage likely peaking through 23Z. Within any thunderstorms at least brief MVFR or lower ceilings and MVFR/IFR visibility cannot be ruled out. Outside of convection, VFR should prevail to begin the period. Tempo groups for thunder on station were used for a time during the first 2 to 3 hours at for KLOZ and KJKL for convection working across the southern portions of the area. The convection should scatter out between 00Z and 06Z, giving way to some low clouds and fog thereafter. Fog and low clouds should gradually lift to end the period. Winds will average southwest to west at 10KT or less ahead of the front through 00Z, with stronger and erratic gusts with any thunderstorms. Generally light and variable winds will prevail tonight, before becoming west and northwest averaging less than 10KT to end the period. && .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch until 8 PM EDT this evening for KYZ058-068-069-079- 080-083>088-111>118. && UPDATE...JP SHORT TERM...GREIF LONG TERM...GEERTSON AVIATION...JP
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 2, 4:25 AM EDT, 10 hours 39 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Aug 2, 9:31 AM EDT, 5 hours 33 minutes before
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Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service JACKSON KY
1058 AM EDT Fri Aug 2 2024
KYZ087-088-113-115-117-118-021545-
Perry KY-Knott KY-Bell KY-Harlan KY-Letcher KY-Leslie KY-
1058 AM EDT Fri Aug 2 2024
...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL IMPACT HARLAN...NORTHEASTERN BELL...
LESLIE...WESTERN LETCHER...SOUTHEASTERN PERRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL KNOTT
COUNTIES THROUGH 1145 AM EDT...
At 1057 AM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along
a line extending from Hyden to Napier to Tacky Town to Kentenia.
Movement was east at 35 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Whitesburg, Harlan, Hyden, Letcher, Cumberland, Loyall, Evarts,
Lynch, Benham, Wallins Creek, Blackey, Big Fork, Bobs Creek, Sandy
Fork, Leatherwood, Hoskinston, Van, Bledsoe, Dizney, and Louellen.
THIS INCLUDES Hal Rogers Parkway between mile markers 40 and 42.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
Torrential rainfall is also occurring with these storms and may lead
to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
&&
LAT...LON 3679 8368 3692 8357 3698 8345 3717 8349
3722 8286 3701 8281 3698 8287 3693 8286
3691 8288 3690 8287 3685 8301 3685 8307
3678 8313 3674 8314 3674 8319
TIME...MOT...LOC 1457Z 266DEG 31KT 3716 8334 3700 8331 3686 8344 3680
8341
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN
MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH
JPSpecial weather statement, Aug 2, 11:19 AM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes before
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Jackson, KY issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 1, 8:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Bath, Breathitt, Elliott, Fleming, Johnson, Lee and 5 more | 38 min |
| Aug 1, 8:10 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Breathitt, Clay, Owsley, Perry | 35 min |
| Aug 1, 8:11 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | Clay, Knox, Laurel | 8 min |
| Aug 1, 8:19 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | JKL | Clay, Knox | 2 hr |
| Aug 1, 8:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Knott and 9 more | 53 min |
| Aug 1, 8:34 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | JKL | Clay, Knox | 112 min |
| Aug 1, 8:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Perry | 24 min |
| Aug 1, 8:39 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin | 51 min |
| Aug 1, 8:56 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | Bell, Clay, Knox, Leslie | 91 min |
| Aug 1, 9:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Floyd, Magoffin, Martin, Pike | 29 min |
| Aug 1, 9:07 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Harlan, Knott, Letcher, Pike | 38 min |
| Aug 1, 9:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Floyd, Knott, Pike | 28 min |
| Aug 1, 9:39 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Pike | 36 min |
| Aug 2, 8:57 AM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Pulaski, Rockcastle | 33 min |
| Aug 2, 9:31 AM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Clay, Laurel | 44 min |
| Aug 2, 10:04 AM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Clay, Knox | 41 min |
| Aug 2, 10:58 AM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Harlan, Leslie, Letcher | 47 min |
| Aug 2, 11:19 AM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Pike | 41 min |
| Aug 2, 11:37 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Harlan, Letcher | 23 min |
| Aug 2, 1:52 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | Knox, Laurel, Whitley | 3 hr |
| Aug 2, 2:10 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | Knox, Whitley | 2 hr |
| Aug 2, 2:44 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Knox | 31 min |
| Aug 2, 2:58 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Whitley | 6 hr |
| Aug 2, 3:11 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Bell | 34 min |
| Aug 2, 3:43 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Lee, Wolfe | 32 min |
| Aug 2, 3:46 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Harlan | 29 min |
| Aug 2, 4:22 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Breathitt, Magoffin, Owsley, Wolfe | 23 min |
| Aug 2, 4:42 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Pike | 33 min |
| Aug 2, 4:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Pike | 37 min |
| Aug 2, 5:21 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | McCreary, Whitley | 24 min |
| Aug 2, 5:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL | Pike | 13 min |
| Aug 2, 5:51 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Knox, Whitley | 24 min |
| Aug 2, 6:00 PM EDT | Areal Flood Advisory | JKL | McCreary, Whitley | 2 hr |
| Aug 2, 6:16 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Knox, Whitley | 29 min |
| Aug 2, 6:53 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Menifee | 37 min |
| Aug 2, 7:23 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Morgan | 37 min |
| Aug 2, 7:29 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Estill | 31 min |
| Aug 2, 7:34 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Pulaski | 41 min |
| Aug 2, 7:41 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Jackson, Rockcastle | 34 min |
| Aug 2, 7:56 PM EDT | Special Weather Statement | JKL | Estill, Powell | 34 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 2024Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2024
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.