Missouri, 2001

Flash Flood in Missouri, August 11, 2001

August 11, 2001 · NWS PAH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Aug 11, 1:00 PM CST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 1:00 PM CST, 4 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
200 PM CDT SAT AUG 11 2001

LATEST KPAH RADAR SHOWS MAIN BODY OF PCPN BEGINNING TO DEPART ERN
PTNS FA. IT FOCUSED WITHIN TIGHT 850MB THETA-E GRADIENT...ALONG/IN
VCNTY OF SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. LAPS DATA REVEALS NEW STORM
DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN ALONG SURFACE BASED WIND SPEED CONVERGENCE/
INSTABILITY GRADIENT.

VISIBLE IMAGERY HAS SHOWN CLEAR OUT BEHIND THIS MAIN BODY OF PCPN.
HOWEVER...AS SURFACE DEW POINTS STILL LINGER IN L-M70S AND BOUNDARY
NEARBY...HINTS ARE BEGINNING TO EMERGE REGARDING ADDITIONAL STORM
DEVELOPMENT IN SEMO. IT THEREFORE SEEMS LIKELY THERE WL BE AT LEAST
A CONTINUED EVENING CHC PCPN ALG/AHEAD OF BOUNDARY...PARTICULARLY
SRN 2/3 FA...WHERE LAPS DATA SHOWS COMPUTED LIS WELL INTO NEGATIVE
RANGE.

SMARTEST RECENT MODEL PERFORMANCE FOR PAH FA HAS BEEN AVN...ESPECIALLY
REGARDING QPF OUTPUT. AVN CONTINUES THE THREAT FOR PCPN EVEN INTO
THE OVERNIGHT HRS...AS IT SLOWLY WORKS THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY SWARD.
EVEN THE ETA HINTS AT THIS SCENARIO WITH ADDITIONAL QPF EXCEEDING
1/2 AVERAGES FOR SRN 2/3 FA. THIS IS HANDLED WELL IN GOING PACKAGE
WITH TAPER TO SMALLER POPS OR SPRINKLES FAR NE...IE BEHIND BOUNDARY.
NEW ETA/AVN ALSO CONFIRMS LINGERING SUN CHC SE MOST PTNS FA TIL
BOUNDARY CAN FULLY DEPART. AFTER THAT...DRIER AIR WORKS IN FOR THE
EARLY-MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WORK WEEK AS NWLY FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE
THOROUGHLY ESTABLISHED...IN RESPONSE TO BUIDING WRN U.S. RIDGE AND
TROFFING IN ERN U.S. AVN/MRF HAS CONSISTENTLY SHOWS ANOTHER FRONTAL
APPROACH TOWARD END OF NEXT WEEK...PROVIDING CHC PCPN THU NIGHT-FRI.

WHILE AVN HAS HAD GENERALLY BEST SOLUTIONS RECENTLY...WL NOT BITE
INTO ITS COOL-OFF TOTALLY...GIVEN TEMPS RECENT WARM BIAS HISTORY.
AFTER FROPA...WL GO MORE FOR MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN WARMER FWC/COOLER
FAN/MAV NOS.

.PAH...NONE.
DH

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Butler

When
August 11, 5:00 PM CST to 6:15 PM CST
Where
Butler County, South Portion
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.716, -90.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorms produced very heavy rain, with radar estimates of up to 2.5 inches per hour. Numerous roads were under water, including the major routes through the area. Four inches of water was over Highway 160 a couple miles west of the intersection with Highway 67. The intersection of Highway 67 and M Highway was under water. In Poplar Bluff, 1.95 inches of rain fell in two hours.

What these are

Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Missouri in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, August 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5265686.