Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 301
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 20, 2025, 2:15 AM CDT for 13 counties in Illinois; 10 counties in Indiana; 17 counties in Kentucky. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 20, 2025, 2:15 AM CDT (07:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 20, 2025, 5:58 AM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 40 counties
Clay County, IL, Edwards County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hamilton County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Massac County, IL, Pope County, IL, Richland County, IL, Saline County, IL, Wabash County, IL, Wayne County, IL, White County, IL, Daviess County, IN, Dubois County, IN, Gibson County, IN, Knox County, IN, Perry County, IN, Pike County, IN, Posey County, IN, Spencer County, IN, Vanderburgh County, IN, Warrick County, IN, Ballard County, KY, Caldwell County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Crittenden County, KY, Daviess County, KY, Hancock County, KY, Henderson County, KY, Hopkins County, KY, Livingston County, KY, Lyon County, KY, Marshall County, KY, McCracken County, KY, McLean County, KY, Muhlenberg County, KY, Ohio County, KY, Union County, KY, Webster County, KY
The radar
The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:18 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
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 2:26 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick | 18 min |
| May 20, 3:07 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Carlisle, Graves, Hickman, McCracken, Marshall | 30 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
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 251 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1853 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 109 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 322 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 7:36 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Jersey, Monroe, Randolph, Saint Clair | 2 hr |
| May 19, 8:26 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Fayette, Franklin and 17 more | 7 hr |
| May 19, 10:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jackson, Jersey, Madison and 5 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 1:07 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Edwards and 27 more | 83 min |
| May 20, 1:09 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Union | 8 hr |
| May 20, 1:42 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles and 31 more | 6 hr |
| May 20, 1:44 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland and 15 more | 106 min |
| May 20, 2:36 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Hardin | 8 hr |
| May 20, 5:51 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Vermilion | 54 min |
| May 19, 7:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Logan, Simpson, Todd | 88 min |
| May 20, 10:19 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bell and 46 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 12:10 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter and 39 more | 5 hr |
| May 20, 1:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allen, Barren, Butler, Christian, Edmonson, Logan and 5 more | 117 min |
| May 20, 2:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher and 3 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 3:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Fulton and 7 more | 117 min |
| May 20, 5:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bell, Boyle, Breathitt, Clark, Clay, Estill and 25 more | 62 min |
| May 20, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Estill, Harlan, Jackson and 15 more | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2025Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2025Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025
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.