2 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 17, 2:13 PM EST, 7 hours 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 213 PM EST SUN MAR 17 2002 EARLY AFT WV AND RUC80 DATA SHOWING LARGE SCALE MID-LEVEL TROUGH OVER WRN US...WITH BROAD/MOIST SWLY FLOW FROM OLD MEXICO TO THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY. SFC DATA SHOW SLOW MVG FRONTAL ZONE FROM ERN KY DOWN TO NRN MS...WITH 40S OVER SRN IN AND 70S OVER SRN TN. KLVX VWP DOES SHOW COLD AIR SLOWLY ERODING. SFC WAVE NOW OVER ERN KY WITHIN LOW-LEVEL BAROCLINIC AXIS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MORNINGS PRECIPITATION. YET ANOTHER WEAK SFC WAVE OVER ERN TX/SWRN ARK SPARKING SOME RA/TS OVER LOWER MS-RIVER VALLEY ATTM. KLVX RADAR AND COOP REPORTS SUGGEST MAX RAINFALL WAS OVER EXTREME SERN COUNTIES (UP TO 2)...WITH LESS THAN 0.5 ELSEWHERE. PICKING WHICH MODEL TO USE SURE HAS BEEN TRICKY LATELY. EXAMPLE...MON NIGHT AND TUE EACH PROVIDE A SIG DIFF PERSPECTIVE ON EVOLUTION OF MID-LEVEL TROUGH NOW OVER WRN US...WITH MESO-ETA CONT DIGGING TROUGH INTO BIG BEND OF TX BY 0Z/WED WHILE AVN HAS A WEAKER/PROGRESSIVE WAVE OVER OK. COMPARING LI GRADIENTS...AVN FRONT OVER OH-RIVER VALLEY IS A BIT FURTHER S VS MESO-ETA AT 12Z/TUE. PER AN EXCELLENT NCEP MODEL DISCUSSION WILL HAVE TO COMPROMISE UNTIL A CLEAR FAVORITE APPEARS. TONITE...WEAK SFC TROUGH AXIS AND LI GRADIENT FLOP AROUND SRN KY AND INTO TN...AS SFC WAVE FROM ARK MOVES NE ALONG MAIN FRONT OVER TN. THIS WILL ACT TO ENHANCE SFC-310K UPGLIDE OVER CENTRAL KY THROUGH 6Z/SUN...ESP IN MESO-ETA SOLN. HOWEVER SPEED CONVERGENCE ALONG THESE SFCS NOT THAT IMPRESSIVE. AFTER 6Z THIS WAVE PASSES SIG LOW LEVEL DOWNGLIDE SEEN ON 300K SFC OVER CWA. 9Z/17 ETA-RSM ENS MEAN POPS SHOW 70% FOR SERN ZONES...TRENDING TOWARDS LESS THAN 30% FOR SRN IN COUNTIES. THIS SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. SOME THUNDER POSS IN SERN COUNTIES DURING EVENING AS SFC BASED INSTABILITY REMAINS...BUT WITH WEAK UPGLIDE AND MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES BELOW 6.5C/KM WILL NOT MENTION OVERNIGHT THUNDER FOR REST CWA. QPF FCSTS BASICALLY PAINT ABOUT 1/4 FOR MOST AREAS...EXCEPT SERN COUNTIES WHERE FROM 1/2 TO 1 IS POSSIBLE. WELL LIKELY CONTINUE THE FLOOD WATCH FOR ONLY A HANDFUL OF COUNTIES IN THE SERN CWA WHERE 6HR FFG VALUES RANGE FROM 1-1.5...AND DROP IT FOR THE REST OF S CENTRAL KY WHERE QPF SHOULDNT BE A SIG. GIVEN CURR COOL TEMPS OVER NRN CWA WILL LEAN TOWARDS COOLER GUIDANCE MINIMA THERE...WITH WARMER MESO-ETA NUMBERS OVER SRN PARTS. MONDAY...MESO-ETA AND TO SOME EXTENT THE ETA-RSM ENS GENERATE PRECIP OVER SRN KY...BUT FROM WHAT I CAN SEE AM NOT CONVINCED THIS WILL HAPPEN. MAIN LOW-LEVEL BAROCLINIC ZONE AND ASSOC 700MB LIFT REMAIN S OVER TN MON...AND ISENTROPIC SFCS SHOW UPGLIDE ONLY ON 310K SFC (600MB) OTHERWISE ITS DOWNGLIDE TO THE GROUND. THIS POINTS TO JUST A MID-LEVEL OVERCAST SKY FOR MOST OF CWA (EXP SRN IN WHERE SOME BREAKS MAY OCCUR). GIVEN SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH RESPECT TO FRONTAL POS WILL LEAVE 50% CHC POPS IN SRN ZONES AND...AT MOST...SPRINKLES IN REST OF COUNTIES. ASSUMING LITTLE/NO PRECIP AND DECENT 925MB WAA...TEMPS WILL WARM FROM TODAYS VALUES. IM THINKING 55-60 IN THE NORTH AND 60-65 IN THE SOUTH. MONDAY NITE...IN RESPONSE TO EJECTING TROUGH OVER EL PASO...SLY LOW-LEVEL FLOW INCREASES AND DRIVES FRONTAL ZONE N OVER CENTRAL KY BY 12Z/TUE. WITH FRONTAL CONVERGENCE OF 30-50KT 900MB FLOW OVER CWA WE COULD SEE SOME SIG PRECIP. UPGLIDE ON 290-300K SFCS IMPRESSIVE...ESP W OF CWA TOWARDS MS RIVER. HOWEVER FRONTOGENESIS ALONG 750MB BAROCLINIC ZONE SEEMS TO BE MAXIMIZED OVER SRN PARTS OF IN/IL BY 9Z/TUE PER MESO-ETA. THIS CONCERNS ME SINCE THE SIG PRECIP COULD MISS US TO THE N/W. THE ETA-RSM ENS POPS NUMBERS ARE SHOWING THIS AS WELL...WITH BAND OF 90%+ POPS WELL N OF THE OHIO RIVER FROM 6-12Z/TUE. WITH MESO-ETA SHOWING SWATH OF 700MB OMEGAS ALONG AND 850MB TDS NEARING 8C BEHIND NORTHWARD MVG FRONTAL ZONE...WELL SEE GOOD CHANCE FOR RAIN. WILL TREND FROM 50% POPS IN SRN ZONES TO 80% IN NRN COUNTIES. WILL GO WITH MINIMA FROM 45-50 IN THE NORTH...TO LOWER 50S SOUTH. TUESDAY...CWA WITHIN WARM SECTOR OF ELONGATED TROUGH/FRONT OVER MS/OH RIVER VALLEYS. RAIN TO CONTINUE ALONG THIS FEATURE...BUT PLACEMENT AND MOVEMENT IS IN QUESTION. ETA ENS POPS SHOWING CENTRAL AND SRN KY STAY MOSTLY DRY WHILE NRN ZONES CLOSER TO BAROCLINICITY HAVE LIKELY POPS. GIVEN SPC DAY 3 OUTLOOK AND ETA ENS LI PROBABILITIES WILL KEEP LIKELY SH/TS IN FCST FOR NRN COUNTIES AND GO TO 50% CHC IN CENTRAL/SRN COUNTIES. ALSO SINCE TODAY ITS P/SUNNY AND IN LOWER 80S OVER GULF COAST STATES...AND WITH BREEZY SWLY LOW-LEVEL FLOW WITHIN WARM SECTOR WILL BE BOLD AND LEAN TOWARDS MESO-ETA MAXIMA...ESP IN SRN KY. SHOWERS TO KEEP TEMPS IN 60S NRN ZONES...AND WILL GO 70-75 IN SRN COUNTIES. TUESDAY NIGHT...MESO-ETA KEEPS FRONT ALONG OHIO RIVER WHICH COULD SPELL FLOODING PROBLEMS...WHILE AVN MOVES OFF TO THE SE. WITH THIS VARIABILITY WILL JUST GO WITH 50% POPS CWA-WIDE. COORDINATED WITH JACKSON. THANKS .SDF...FLOOD WATCH CONTINUED TIL 0930Z FOR MONROE...CUMBERLAND...CLINTON...ADAIR...AND RUSSELL COUNTIES IN SRN KY. SMALLCOMB
The Nashville radar (KOHX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:17 UTC.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water covered roads over much of the county. Highway 127S 5 miles south of Albany, Miller Road between SR 1590 and Highway 90, parts of Highway 696 were all covered with water. There was flooding on Bald Rock Road in the extreme southeast part of the county.
State Road 163 south of Tompkinsville had 8 to 10 inches of water over the roadway.
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, March 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: 5285672, 5285673.