Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2024

Tornado Watch 324

May 26, 202412 counties in Illinois; 18 counties in Indiana; 43 counties in Kentucky

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 26, 2024, 6:54 PM CDT for 12 counties in Illinois; 18 counties in Indiana; 43 counties in Kentucky. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 26, 2024, 6:54 PM CDT (23:54 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 2024, 12:42 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 75 kt

All 73 counties

Clay County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Edwards County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Richland County, IL, Wabash County, IL, Wayne County, IL, White County, IL, Clark County, IN, Crawford County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Dubois County, IN, Floyd County, IN, Gibson County, IN, Harrison County, IN, Knox County, IN, Martin County, IN, Orange County, IN, Perry County, IN, Pike County, IN, Posey County, IN, Scott County, IN, Spencer County, IN, Vanderburgh County, IN, Warrick County, IN, Washington County, IN, Adair County, KY, Allen County, KY, Barren County, KY, Breckinridge County, KY, Bullitt County, KY, Butler County, KY, Caldwell County, KY, Christian County, KY, Clinton County, KY, Crittenden County, KY, Cumberland County, KY, Daviess County, KY, Edmonson County, KY, Grayson County, KY, Green County, KY, Hancock County, KY, Hardin County, KY, Hart County, KY, Henderson County, KY, Hopkins County, KY, Jefferson County, KY, Larue County, KY, Logan County, KY, Lyon County, KY, Marion County, KY, McLean County, KY, Meade County, KY, Metcalfe County, KY, Monroe County, KY, Muhlenberg County, KY, Nelson County, KY, Ohio County, KY, Oldham County, KY, Russell County, KY, Simpson County, KY, Spencer County, KY, Taylor County, KY, Todd County, KY, Trigg County, KY, Union County, KY, Warren County, KY, Washington County, KY, Webster County, KY

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:56 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: 80%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 60%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 90%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 70%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Crittenden, Livingston, Lyon, McCracken, Marshall	39 min
May 26, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin	52 min
May 26, 7:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Livingston, Lyon, Marshall	44 min
May 26, 7:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin	34 min
May 26, 7:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ILX	Clay	33 min
May 26, 7:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Henderson, McLean, Union, Webster	44 min
May 26, 7:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Gallatin	27 min
May 26, 7:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Crittenden, Livingston, Lyon	40 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clay	12 min
May 26, 7:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Franklin, Hamilton, Wayne, White	51 min
May 26, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Effingham	29 min
May 26, 7:46 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Gallatin	5 hr
May 26, 7:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Caldwell, Crittenden, Lyon	28 min
May 26, 7:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clay, Richland	26 min
May 26, 7:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Henderson, Union	39 min
May 26, 7:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin	51 min
May 26, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ILX	Clay, Jasper, Richland	45 min
May 26, 8:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Daviess, Henderson, McLean, Webster	43 min
May 26, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Edwards, Wabash, Wayne, White	57 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	PAH	Caldwell, Lyon	51 min
May 26, 8:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning EmergencyTornado observedCatastrophic damage threat	PAH	Caldwell, Lyon	22 min
May 26, 8:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Edwards, Wabash	40 min
May 26, 8:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ILX	Crawford, Lawrence	39 min
May 26, 8:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	PAH	Caldwell, Hopkins	51 min
May 26, 8:26 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Henderson	5 hr
May 26, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski and 1 more	49 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Lawrence	30 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	IND	Daviess, Greene, Knox, Sullivan	45 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning EmergencyTornado observedCatastrophic damage threat	PAH	Caldwell	15 min
May 26, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Wabash, White	57 min
May 26, 8:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick	26 min
May 26, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Spencer	38 min
May 26, 8:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning EmergencyTornado observedCatastrophic damage threat	PAH	Caldwell, Hopkins	22 min
May 26, 8:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	PAH	Gibson, Pike, Spencer, Warrick	39 min
May 26, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Hardin	35 min
May 26, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LMK	Dubois, Perry	53 min
May 26, 8:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Spencer	51 min
May 26, 8:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Gibson, Pike	23 min
May 26, 8:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	IND	Daviess, Knox	33 min
May 26, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Dubois	29 min
May 26, 9:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning EmergencyTornado observedCatastrophic damage threat	PAH	Hopkins	29 min
May 26, 9:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	PAH	Hopkins, Muhlenberg	56 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	IND	Brown, Clay, Daviess, Greene, Knox, Lawrence and 6 more	48 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Daviess, McLean, Webster	5 hr
May 26, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Crawford, Perry	46 min
May 26, 9:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Caldwell, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Webster	44 min
May 26, 9:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	IND	Daviess, Greene, Knox, Martin	15 min
May 26, 9:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Caldwell, Christian, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Todd, Trigg	50 min
May 26, 9:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Muhlenberg	27 min
May 26, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Caldwell, Calloway, Christian, Graves, Lyon, Muhlenberg and 2 more	53 min
May 26, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Butler, Logan, Ohio, Simpson, Warren	29 min
May 26, 9:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Harrison	26 min
May 26, 9:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Muhlenberg	25 min
May 26, 9:53 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Hopkins, Muhlenberg	3 hr
May 26, 9:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Butler	20 min
May 26, 10:08 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Ohio	3 hr
May 26, 10:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Todd	11 min
May 26, 10:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clark, Floyd, Harrison	51 min
May 26, 10:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Allen, Butler, Edmonson, Logan, Simpson, Warren	49 min
May 26, 10:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Butler, Warren	31 min
May 26, 10:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	LMK	Bullitt, Hardin, Nelson, Spencer	23 min
May 26, 10:36 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Butler, Logan	3 hr
May 26, 10:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Allen, Barren, Edmonson, Hart, Monroe, Simpson and 1 more	35 min
May 26, 11:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Green, Larue, Marion, Nelson, Taylor, Washington	41 min
May 26, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Adair, Allen, Barren, Cumberland, Green, Hart and 3 more	38 min
May 26, 11:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Metcalfe, Monroe and 2 more	48 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, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 207 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: 1896 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 9.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 2:35 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 14 more	7 hr
May 26, 7:50 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope and 4 more	115 min
May 26, 2:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski, Randolph and 2 more	3 hr
May 26, 2:46 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 10 more	59 min
May 26, 3:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake and 2 more	94 min
May 26, 4:01 PM CDT	Tornado Watch PDS	SPC	Alexander, Bond, Clinton, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton and 16 more	7 hr
May 26, 5:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Christian, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford and 14 more	67 min
May 26, 5:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	McHenry	67 min
May 26, 6:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 11 more	87 min
May 26, 6:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Edgar, Shelby	5 hr
May 26, 6:57 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander	63 min
May 26, 8:59 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Crawford, Dubois, Harrison, Perry, Posey, Spencer and 2 more	8 hr
May 26, 11:20 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Blackford, Dearborn, Decatur and 27 more	85 min
May 26, 12:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Allen, Blackford, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware and 12 more	7 hr
May 26, 10:17 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Boyle, Casey and 26 more	88 min
May 26, 11:52 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Boyle, Casey and 32 more	83 min
May 26, 12:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Floyd, Harlan, Knott, Letcher, Martin, Pike	92 min
May 26, 12:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Breathitt, Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Knott, Leslie and 5 more	9 hr
May 26, 1:57 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne	93 min
May 26, 2:25 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Martin, Pike	95 min
May 26, 5:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Calloway, Fulton	87 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2024 Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2024 Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2024 Every tornado watch 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.