Alert archive / Kentucky / Flash Flood Warnings in 2026

Flash Flood Warning 87, NWS Paducah, KY

August 20, 2026McCracken County, Kentucky

NWS Paducah, KY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 20, 2026, 3:19 AM CDT for McCracken County, Kentucky. It was in force for 4 hr. 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 20, 2026, 3:19 AM CDT (08:19 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 2026, 7:47 AM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Paducah, KY
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County McCracken County, KY

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 5 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:18 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 215 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: 310 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -212 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1337 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 20, 12:46 AM CDT, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 12:46 AM CDT, 2 hours 33 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 19, 8:56 PM CDT, 6 hours 23 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Paducah KY
856 PM CDT Wed Aug 19 2026

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-
100-107>112-114-210200-
Jefferson-Wayne IL-Edwards-Wabash-Perry IL-Franklin-Hamilton-
White-Jackson-Williamson-Saline-Gallatin-Union-Johnson-Pope-
Hardin-Alexander-Pulaski-Massac-Gibson-Pike-Posey-Vanderburgh-
Warrick-Spencer-Fulton-Hickman-Carlisle-Ballard-McCracken-Graves-
Livingston-Marshall-Calloway-Crittenden-Lyon-Trigg-Caldwell-
Union KY-Webster-Hopkins-Christian-Henderson-Daviess-McLean-
Muhlenberg-Todd-Perry MO-Bollinger-Cape Girardeau-Wayne MO-Carter-
Ripley-Butler-Stoddard-Scott-Mississippi-New Madrid-
856 PM CDT Wed Aug 19 2026 /956 PM EDT Wed Aug 19 2026/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southern
Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky, and southeast
Missouri.

.DAY ONE...Tonight

Scattered to numerous thunderstorms are expected to move east
southeast across the Quad State through the night. Severe storms
with damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes will be
possible, mainly to the south of a DuQuoin Illinois to Greenville
Kentucky line.

A swath of very heavy rainfall may lead to flash flooding concerns
overnight. Refer to the Flood Watch for additional details.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday

Small chances of thunderstorms are forecast Thursday afternoon,
and then off and on from Friday night through Tuesday. Brief heavy
downpours and lightning would be the primary concerns.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed this evening and into part of the
overnight.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 20, 2:33 AM CDT, 46 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 20, 2:34 AM CDT, 45 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Aug 20, 2:53 AM CDT, 26 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 20, 2:59 AM CDT, 20 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Aug 20, 2:59 AM CDT, 20 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 20, 3:06 AM CDT, 13 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Paducah, KY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 19, 8:23 PM CDT	Flood Watch	PAH	Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden and 16 more	11 hr
Aug 19, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, McCracken	51 min
Aug 19, 11:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle, Graves, McCracken	29 min
Aug 19, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway, Graves, Hickman, McCracken, Marshall	54 min
Aug 19, 11:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Ballard	6 hr
Aug 20, 12:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle	40 min
Aug 20, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	PAH	Calloway, Graves, Hickman, Marshall	67 min
Aug 20, 12:12 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Calloway, Graves, Marshall	34 min
Aug 20, 12:21 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Carlisle, Graves	6 hr
Aug 20, 12:31 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle	13 min
Aug 20, 12:36 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Calloway, Marshall, Trigg	31 min
Aug 20, 12:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	PAH	Christian, Trigg	47 min
Aug 20, 12:43 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle, Graves, McCracken	20 min
Aug 20, 12:47 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, McCracken and 1 more	34 min
Aug 20, 1:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway, Graves, Hickman, Marshall	44 min
Aug 20, 1:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	PAH	Calloway, Graves	13 min
Aug 20, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Christian, Todd, Trigg	65 min
Aug 20, 1:28 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	PAH	Calloway, Graves, Hickman, Marshall	4 hr
Aug 20, 1:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Christian	34 min
Aug 20, 2:04 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Todd	26 min
Aug 20, 2:09 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	PAH	Ballard	36 min
Aug 20, 2:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Ballard, Carlisle, McCracken	42 min
Aug 20, 2:59 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	PAH	Calloway, Graves	46 min
Aug 20, 3:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway	20 min
Aug 20, 4:02 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	PAH	Livingston, McCracken, Marshall	28 min
Aug 20, 4:17 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Marshall	4 hr
Aug 19, 10:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Union	25 min
Aug 19, 10:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Alexander, Pulaski, Union	50 min
Aug 19, 10:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Johnson, Union	36 min
Aug 19, 11:29 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	PAH	Pope	31 min
Aug 19, 11:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Alexander	5 hr
Aug 19, 11:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Alexander, Pulaski	14 min
Aug 19, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Bollinger	31 min
Aug 19, 9:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Carter	34 min
Aug 19, 10:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Bollinger, Cape Girardeau	34 min
Aug 19, 10:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard	40 min
Aug 19, 10:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Carter	23 min
Aug 19, 10:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Butler, Carter, Wayne	34 min
Aug 19, 11:30 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	PAH	Stoddard	30 min
Aug 19, 11:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard	22 min
Aug 20, 12:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PAH	Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard	23 min
Aug 20, 12:31 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	PAH	Bollinger, Wayne	2 hr
Aug 20, 12:35 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	New Madrid, Stoddard	18 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kentucky, 2026 Every flash flood warning in 2026

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.