1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Apr 26, 1:15 AM CST, 7 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 215 AM CDT FRI APR 26 2002 WARM ADVECTION RAIN REMAINS THE MAIN WEATHER FEATURE FOR THE PAH FORECAST AREA TODAY AND MUCH OF TONIGHT. ELEVATED CONVECTION THEN BEGINS TO PLAY A ROLE LATE TONIGHT AND SATURDAY...FOLLOWED BY THE POTENTIAL FOR SURFACE-BASED CONVECTION LATE SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. A WEAK UPPER-LEVEL SYSTEM WILL PUSH THROUGH THE REGION THIS MORNING...TOUCHING OFF LIGHT RAIN OVER PARTS OF THE REGION. JUDGING BY CURRENT RADAR TRENDS AND TIME-HEIGHT SECTIONS OF MOISTURE...WILL KEEP ANY MENTION OF RAIN SOUTH OF A CARBONDALE TO MADISONVILLE LINE FOR TODAY...WITH A MENTION OF SPRINKLES NORTH. BELIEVE MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL BE CONFINED TO THE MORNING HOURS AS MODELS SHOW A DRYING TREND BY AFTERNOON. MAY TWEAK HIGH TEMPERATURES DOWN A NOTCH OVER SOUTHERN COUNTIES TO ACCOUNT FOR THE EFFECT OF CLOUDS AND RAIN. BY TONIGHT...THE LOW WILL BEGIN TO CRANK UP IN THE LEE OF THE ROCKIES OVER EASTERN COLORADO AS THE PARENT UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM PULLS OUT OF THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES. PRECIP CHANCES TONIGHT DO NOT LOOK AS PROMISING...SO WILL KEEP A 40 POP OVER SEMO...BUT WILL LOWER POPS OVER WKY AND NORTHERN ZONES TO 30 AND 20 RESPECTIVELY. GOING SATURDAY FORECAST ON TRACK. THE LOW WILL BEGIN ITS JOURNEY ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS...LIFTING A WARM FRONT ACROSS THE REGION. THE PASSAGE OF THIS FRONT WILL PLACE THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA IN THE WARM SECTOR BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON. BOTH 00Z ETA/AVN SOLUTIONS ARE DEEPER AND SLOWER WITH THE LOW... THUS WILL INTRODUCE THE LIKELIHOOD FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INTO THE SATURDAY NIGHT FORECAST. UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS TWO STORM SYSTEMS WHICH HAVE DEVELOPED SEVERE ACTIVITY RIGHT ON TOP OF THE FORECAST AREA...THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE IT WILL FIRE CONVECTION TO OUR WEST...WHICH WILL THEN STREAM ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL HOPEFULLY HELP TO REDUCE THE VIOLENT POTENTIAL OF THE STORMS. WILL NOT BOTHER WITH ANY CHANGES BEYOND SUNDAY DUE TO DIFFERENCES IN HOW THE MEDIUM-RANGE MODELS ARE HANDLING IMPULSES IN THE WEAK RIDGE/ ZONAL FLOW PATTERN. .PAH...NONE. PRESLEY
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-270500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 600 AM CDT FRI APR 26 2002 ...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA... THREATS... THERE IS A CHANCE OF SHOWERS ACROSS THE FOUR-STATE REGION AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE MAINLY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. HOWEVER...NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. DISCUSSION... A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL FORM IN THE LEE OF THE ROCKIES OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. A DEVELOPING WARM FRONT EAST OF THE LOW WILL ACT AS A FOCUS FOR SHOWER ACTIVITY AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE SHOWERS WILL BEGIN FIRST OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...THEN SPREAD EAST TOWARD SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA AROUND DAYBREAK. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR LATE TONIGHT IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. DUE TO A LACK OF INSTABILITY...NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. SPOTTER ACTIVATION... ACTIVATION OF SPOTTERS IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY... THE AFOREMENTIONED LOW WILL SWING A WARM FRONT THROUGH THE AREA SATURDAY MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. OCCASIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT. WHILE NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD CONTAIN LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON...THE ATMOSPHERE IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY DESTABILIZE AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT. COMBINED WITH STRENGTHENING WIND FIELDS...THIS WILL CREATE THE RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. THE TYPE AND INTENSITY OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL DEPEND HIGHLY ON THE SPEED OF THE APPROACHING STORM SYSTEM AND THE AMOUNT OF CLEARING BEHIND THE WARM FRONT. AT THIS TIME...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA HAS PLACED SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AND EXTREME WESTERN KENTUCKY IN A MODERATE RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. A SLIGHT RISK EXISTS FARTHER EAST OVER SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND THE REMAINDER OF WESTERN KENTUCKY. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES...ESPECIALLY IN THE MODERATE RISK AREA. && PRESLEY
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Ohio River rose above flood stage at J.T. Meyers Lock toward the end of the month. Through May 1, the flooding was minor, consisting of low-lying agricultural bottomland.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, April 2002
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: 5292712.