1 flash 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 Dec 19, 3:45 AM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 345 AM CST THU DEC 19 2002 88D THIS MORNING SHOWED WDSPRD RAIN NOW COVERING ONLY W KY AND SW IN...WITH THUNDER NOW NEARLY NONEXISTENT AS THE PCPN MOVED INTO MORE STABLE AIR. IR SATL W/ RUC40 OVERLAY SHOWED THE QUASISTATIONARY PART OF THE COLD FRONT IN AR WAS BEGINNING TO MOVE E AS SRN PLAINS TROF CONTINUED TO DIG EWD. MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT IN THEIR DEPICTION AS LARGE UPPER LOW OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST PROGRESSES SLOWLY EWD. MEANWHILE...THE SRN PLAINS TROF EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW IS PROGGED TO LIFT NEWD AWAY FROM THE FCST AREA EARLY FRI. MODELS DEVELOP A SFC WAVE ALONG THE SFC COLD FRONT...AND THE FEATURE WILL MOVE NEWD ACROSS WKY THIS AFTN. THIS SHOULD ENHANCE CONVECTION OVER PRIMARILY WKY...MAINLY INCLUDING THE LBL AND PENNYRILE REGIONS. IT APPEARS THAT QPF VALUES MAY APPROACH BUT NOT EXCEED GUIDANCE VALUES IN THAT AREA...THUS FFA WONT BE ISSUED. HOWEVER...JUST LIKE YESTERDAYS RAINS THERE IS LIKELY TO BE SOME NUISANCE FLOODING. TSTM ACTIVITY SHOULD REMAIN MAINLY EAST OF THE MS RIVER THIS AFTN WHERE HIGHER THETA-E AIR WILL BE. SOME PCPN COULD LINGER IN THE ERN THIRD OF THE AREA THU EVE...WILL INCLUDE A SMALL CHANCE THERE. ANOTHER IMPULSE AND WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH FOR SAT...OFFERING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. THE NEXT CHANCE OF PCPN IS ON TUE OF NEXT WEEK...WHERE ISENTROPIC LIFT AHEAD OF A SRN STREAM UPPER LOW SETS UP. AT THIS POINT...ENOUGH COLD AIR COULD BE IN PLACE AT THE SFC TO CREATE SNOW...ENOUGH TO MENTION IT ALONG W/ RAIN FOR MAINLY THE SOUTH PART OF THE FCST AREA. THE SYSTEM COULD MOVE OUT QUICKLY ENOUGH TO GIVE US SUNSHINE FOR CHRISTMAS DAY. GUIDANCE NUMBERS IN FAIR AGREEMENT...MAV SEEMS TO HAVE THE BEST HANDLE ON CURRENT CONDITIONS HOWEVER. .PAH...NONE. DB
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-201100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 530 AM CST THU DEC 19 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND WESTERN KENTUCKY. ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY FOR THE SOUTHEAST PART OF WESTERN KENTUCKY... ...HEAVY RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING... .DAY ONE...TODAY... AN UPPER LEVEL IMPULSE WILL MOVE OUT OF TEXAS. MEANWHILE...A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE AREA IS EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS WESTERN KENTUCKY ALONG A COLD FRONT. GENERAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY CAN BE EXPECTED MAINLY EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TODAY. STRONG WIND SHEAR ALOFT...MODEST INSTABILITY...AND PLENTY OF MOISTURE MAY PROVIDE THE RIGHT CONDITIONS FOR ISOLATED SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE QUAD STATE AREA. ABUNDANT AVAILABLE MOISTURE AND SLOW INITIAL MOVEMENT OF THE FRONT WILL ENCOURAGE HEAVY RAINFALL WITH MANY OF THE STORMS TODAY. THIS COULD RESULT IN SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THERE IS A CHANCE OF RAIN OR SNOW ON CHRISTMAS EVE...HOWEVER IT IS TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL FOR MEASURABLE SNOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED TODAY ACROSS MAINLY THE PENNYRILE REGION OF KENTUCKY. DB
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:59 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Creeks rose out of their banks. About 4 miles north of Murray, a creek threatened to overflow across U.S. Highway 641.
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, December 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: 5325522.