High Wind in Kentucky, February 19 to 20, 2002

Name: High Wind in Kentucky, February 19 to 20, 2002
Start: 2002-02-19T22:00
End: 2002-02-20T02:00
Location: Kentucky

February 19 to 20, 2002 · NWS PAH · 18 events in 18 counties and zones

Most of western Kentucky was affected by a short period of strong south winds, generally lasting an hour or two. Winds gusted to between 40 and 50 MPH at many places south and east of Paducah.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 18 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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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: 18

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 happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

Most of western Kentucky was affected by a short period of strong south winds, generally lasting an hour or two. Winds gusted to between 40 and 50 MPH at many places south and east of Paducah. Near Mayfield in Graves County, a spotter measured a gust to 43 MPH. A couple of trees were blown down in Marshall County. Two power poles were also down. In Daviess County, a couple of trees fell on power lines, catching the trees on fire.

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 Feb 19, 1:25 PM CST, 8 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 19, 1:25 PM CST, 8 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
125 PM CST TUE FEB 19 2002

ISENTROPHIC LIFT AND SOME UPPER VORT ENERGY COMBINED EARLY THIS
MORNING TO PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT FOR PRECIP TO PENETRATE THE DRY LOWER
LAYERS. RADAR THIS AFTERNOON SHOWED SCATTERED SHOWERS ACROSS THE
FORECAST AREA MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST...WITH ANOTHER SWATH OF
PREFRONTAL CONVERGENCE/CONVECTION APPROACHING THE WRN SECTIONS. SATL
PICS THIS AFTERNOON INDICATE WDSPRD CLOUDINESS FROM ERN TX INTO THE
NRN MS VALLEY AS WAA AND MOISTURE TRANSPORT CONTINUES AHEAD OF A
SIGNIFICANT UPPER TROF AXIS NOW STRETCHING FROM NRN TX TO THE UPPER
MIDWEST.

AFTER HAVING SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS IN THE RECENT
PAST...ESPECIALLY WITH THE SPEED OF THE SYSTEM...THE MODEL SOLUTIONS
ARE MORE IN SYNC NOW...WITH AVN STILL A BIT MORE PROGRESSIVE AFTER
WED. THE AVN HAS BEEN QUITE BELIEVABLE LATELY...WILL GO WITH HPC
THEORY OF A AVN/ETA COMPROMISE THRU DAY3.

THE AFOREMENTIONED SOUTHERN PLAINS TROF IS PROGGED TO SWING RAPIDLY
EAST AND MERGE WITH A NRN STREAM S/W LATE TODAY. THIS WILL DRIVE A
SFC COLD FRONT THRU WRN PARTS OF THE FA BY AROUND 12Z WED. AHEAD OF
IT...THE AREA OF HEAVIEST PRECIP WILL CONTINUE TO BE MAINLY N OF THE
OHIO...AND E OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER...MAINLY BETWEEN 00Z AND 06Z
WED(TONIGHT). ALSO IN THIS PERIOD BECAUSE OF THE TIGHTENING PRES
GRADIENT...SUSTAINED SFC WINDS COULD INCREASE TO NEAR 20 KNOTS.

THE TROF SHOULD TAKE ON A NEGATIVE TILT AS IT PIVOTS TOWARD THE NERN
U.S....FOLLOWED BY SOME WRAPAROUND CLOUDINESS FOR MOST OF THE DAY
WED. IT APPEARS THAT AS THE UPPER TROF WILL TRANSITION INTO A WELL
DEFINED CLOSED LOW ON THU...AS IT WORKS AGAINST THE RIDGE OF HIGH
PRES AHEAD OF IT AND MORE RIDGING BEHIND IT OVER THE NRN PLAINS. AS
THE LOW HESITATES THEN MOVE TO THE NE...A LOBE OF ENERGY ON ITS SW
SIDE SHOULD MOVE THRU THE FA...POSSIBLY REINTRODUCING A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS MAINLY FOR THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE FA.

FURTHER ON...UPPER PATTERN WILL BECOME ZONAL DURING THE WEEKEND...
WITH THE NRN STREAM A BIT MORE ACTIVE. MOISTURE TRANSPORT AHEAD OF A
SW U.S. BROAD TROF WILL GIVE US A CHANCE OF PRECIP FOR THE BEGINNING
OF NEXT WEEK.

.PAH...NONE.

DB

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

18 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Caldwell

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Caldwell forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.145, -87.868 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Calloway

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Calloway forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.621, -88.272 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Christian

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Christian forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.894, -87.490 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Crittenden

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Crittenden forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.353, -88.097 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Daviess

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Daviess forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.732, -87.087 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Fulton

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Fulton forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.554, -89.188 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Graves

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Graves forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.723, -88.651 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Henderson

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Henderson forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.796, -87.573 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Hickman

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Hickman forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.678, -88.976 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Hopkins

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Hopkins forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.309, -87.541 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Lyon

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Lyon forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.019, -88.083 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Marshall

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Marshall forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.884, -88.329 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, McLean

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: McLean forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.529, -87.264 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Muhlenberg

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Muhlenberg forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.216, -87.142 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Todd

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Todd forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.836, -87.179 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Trigg

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Trigg forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.806, -87.873 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Union

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.659, -87.945 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Webster

When: February 19, 10:00 PM CST to February 20, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Webster forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.518, -87.683 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kentucky in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, February 2002

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: 5282789, 5282790, 5282791, 5282792, 5282793, 5282794, 5282795, 5282796, 5282797, 5282798, 5282799, 5282800, 5282801, 5282802, 5282803, 5282804, 5282805, 5282806.