Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 349

June 18, 20264 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 18, 2026, 4:39 AM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 18, 2026, 4:39 AM EDT (08:39 UTC)
Expired: Jun 18, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 92 counties

Clark County, IN, Crawford County, IN, Floyd County, IN, Harrison County, IN, Perry County, IN, Anderson County, KY, Bath County, KY, Bourbon County, KY, Boyd County, KY, Bracken County, KY, Breathitt County, KY, Bullitt County, KY, Carroll County, KY, Carter County, KY, Clark County, KY, Elliott County, KY, Estill County, KY, Fayette County, KY, Fleming County, KY, Floyd County, KY, Franklin County, KY, Gallatin County, KY, Garrard County, KY, Grant County, KY, Greenup County, KY, Harrison County, KY, Henry County, KY, Jefferson County, KY, Jessamine County, KY, Johnson County, KY, Knott County, KY, Lawrence County, KY, Lee County, KY, Lewis County, KY, Madison County, KY, Magoffin County, KY, Martin County, KY, Mason County, KY, Meade County, KY, Menifee County, KY, Mercer County, KY, Montgomery County, KY, Morgan County, KY, Nicholas County, KY, Oldham County, KY, Owen County, KY, Owsley County, KY, Pendleton County, KY, Pike County, KY, Powell County, KY, Robertson County, KY, Rowan County, KY, Scott County, KY, Shelby County, KY, Spencer County, KY, Trimble County, KY, Wolfe County, KY, Woodford County, KY, Adams County, OH, Athens County, OH, Brown County, OH, Gallia County, OH, Highland County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Lawrence County, OH, Meigs County, OH, Pike County, OH, Scioto County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Boone County, WV, Braxton County, WV, Cabell County, WV, Calhoun County, WV, Clay County, WV, Fayette County, WV, Gilmer County, WV, Jackson County, WV, Kanawha County, WV, Lincoln County, WV, Logan County, WV, Mason County, WV, Mingo County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Putnam County, WV, Raleigh County, WV, Ritchie County, WV, Roane County, WV, Wayne County, WV, Webster County, WV, Wirt County, WV, Wood County, WV, Wyoming County, WV

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:41 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 80%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 18, 4:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Orange, Washington	5 hr
Jun 18, 4:40 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Perry	35 min
Jun 18, 4:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	JKL	Bath, Fleming, Montgomery, Rowan	45 min
Jun 18, 4:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Anderson, Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Harrison and 5 more	45 min
Jun 18, 4:47 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Bullitt, Jefferson, Shelby, Spencer	16 min
Jun 18, 4:52 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Crawford, Dubois, Harrison, Orange, Perry	3 hr
Jun 18, 4:59 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan, Washington	3 hr
Jun 18, 5:01 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ILN	Lewis	59 min
Jun 18, 5:10 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RLX	Carter, Greenup	35 min
Jun 18, 5:11 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Fayette, Franklin, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Scott and 3 more	4 hr
Jun 18, 5:14 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Anderson, Bullitt, Franklin, Jefferson, Nelson, Shelby and 2 more	31 min
Jun 18, 5:14 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, Vinton, Washington	31 min
Jun 18, 5:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JKL	Bath, Elliott, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Rowan	37 min
Jun 18, 5:26 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Adams, Pike, Scioto	43 min
Jun 18, 5:33 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence	27 min
Jun 18, 5:54 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence	36 min
Jun 18, 6:02 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence	28 min
Jun 18, 6:11 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Gallia, Meigs, Vinton	34 min
Jun 18, 6:19 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lawrence	26 min
Jun 18, 6:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JKL	Estill, Lee, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Powell and 1 more	50 min
Jun 18, 6:28 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Gallia, Meigs	32 min
Jun 18, 6:31 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JKL	Martin, Pike	18 min
Jun 18, 6:36 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Athens, Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, Vinton	3 hr
Jun 18, 6:39 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, Wayne, Wyoming	36 min
Jun 18, 6:41 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Anderson, Bullitt, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Jessamine and 5 more	4 hr
Jun 18, 6:44 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Jackson, Kanawha and 5 more	31 min
Jun 18, 6:47 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison and 4 more	28 min
Jun 18, 6:52 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JKL	Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin, Morgan	23 min
Jun 18, 6:53 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Boone, Logan, Mingo, Wyoming	37 min
Jun 18, 7:11 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Harrison, Perry	3 hr
Jun 18, 7:11 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Raleigh, Wyoming	34 min
Jun 18, 7:13 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Barbour, Braxton, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Randolph and 2 more	32 min
Jun 18, 7:14 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Anderson, Mercer, Nelson, Spencer, Washington, Woodford	4 hr
Jun 18, 7:17 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer and 7 more	28 min
Jun 18, 7:17 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Raleigh, Wyoming	28 min
Jun 18, 7:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lawrence	35 min
Jun 18, 7:34 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, Wyoming	26 min
Jun 18, 7:39 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Fayette, Raleigh, Wyoming	36 min
Jun 18, 7:44 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Barbour, Braxton, Clay, Lewis, Nicholas, Pocahontas and 4 more	31 min
Jun 18, 7:54 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, McDowell, Mingo and 2 more	36 min
Jun 18, 7:55 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Athens, Washington	3 hr
Jun 18, 8:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Fayette, Garrard, Jessamine, Mercer, Woodford	6 hr
Jun 18, 8:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Webster	37 min
Jun 18, 8:18 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Pocahontas, Randolph, Webster	27 min
Jun 18, 8:24 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Clark, Garrard, Madison	7 hr
Jun 18, 8:27 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, Raleigh, Wyoming	33 min
Jun 18, 8:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell, Raleigh, Wyoming	35 min
Jun 18, 9:04 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Anderson, Boyle, Bullitt, Garrard, Jessamine, Mercer and 3 more	5 hr
Jun 18, 9:19 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	JKL	Estill, Powell	5 hr
Jun 18, 10:11 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	JKL	Breathitt, Estill, Jackson, Lee, Owsley, Powell and 1 more	4 hr
Jun 18, 10:25 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LMK	Boyle, Casey, Garrard, Lincoln, Madison, Marion and 2 more	7 hr
Jun 18, 10:50 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	JKL	Breathitt, Jackson, Lee, Owsley, Rockcastle	4 hr

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 00:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 136 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1205 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 78 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 427 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 684 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 3.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 17, 9:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Dubois, Floyd, Franklin and 16 more	3 hr
Jun 17, 10:03 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartholomew, Brown, Daviess, Greene, Jackson, Jennings and 8 more	87 min
Jun 17, 10:13 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Dubois, Fayette, Floyd and 18 more	7 hr
Jun 18, 12:27 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartholomew, Dearborn, Decatur, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson and 5 more	93 min
Jun 18, 3:29 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Harrison and 13 more	91 min
Jun 18, 1:43 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Barren, Bell, Boyle, Breathitt, Casey and 30 more	62 min
Jun 18, 6:43 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Braxton, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier and 12 more	2 hr
Jun 18, 7:09 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barbour, Greenbrier, Lewis, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe and 5 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2026 Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2026 Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2026 Every tornado watch 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.