Name: High Wind in Kentucky, March 9, 2002
Start: 2002-03-09T16:45
End: 2002-03-09T18:00
Location: Kentucky

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: $35,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 RLX wrote it up.

A strong cold front whipped across northeast Kentucky. A narrow and brief line of showers was associated with the front. Winds gusted into the 45 to 65 mph range. Trees and power lines were blown down.

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 Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 9, 4:35 PM EST, 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 4:35 PM EST, 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSIO...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
435 PM EST SAT MAR 9 2002

...HAVE UPDATED TO ADD HIGH WIND WARNING TO ALL OF OUR CWA EXCEPT
FAR SOUTHERN WV AND VA COUNTIES...

SHORT TERM THOUGHTS...TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...

LATEST WEATHER MAP SHOWS AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER LAKE SUPERIOR
WITH A STRONG COLD FRONT EXTENDING CURVING SOUTHWARD ACROSS WESTERN
OHIO AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY INTO THE WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO.  A LARGE
AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE STRETCHED FROM SOUTHWEST CANADA INTO THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS.

INITIAL LINE OF SHOWERS AND MAYBE AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM IS
CURRENTLY MOVING EAST ACROSS OUR CWA AROUND 25-30 MPH.  ANOTHER LINE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED ALONG THE FRONT.  IT IS
BEEN BREEZY ACROSS THE REGION WITH SOUTHERLY WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH
WITH HIGHER GUSTS QUITE COMMON.  BECAUSE OF THESE WINDS AND SOME
SUNSHINE...AIRMASS HAS BECOME MARGINALLY UNSTABLE WITH SURFACE-BASED
CAPE VALUES TO 500 J/KG.

UPPER LEVEL FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH AN MID-LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROF
SWINGING ACROSS THE AREA WILL COMBINE WITH THIS INSTABILITY TO
RESULT IN A CONTINUED THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT.

WILL KEEP WIND ADVISORY IN PLACE AS GRADIENT WINDS WILL REMAIN QUITE
STRONG.  IN ADDITION...WINDS AROUND THE STRONGER STORMS COULD RESULT
IN A THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS.

CURRENT THINKING IS THAT FRONT SHOULD PUSH EAST AND BE LOCATED NEAR
OUR NORTHEASTERN COUNTIES AROUND 00 UTC.  MOST OF THE PRECIP SHOULD
BE ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT.  WILL LIKELY GO WITH 50 POPS IN
THE NORTHEAST TO 20 POPS IN THE FAR WEST.   HOWEVER WITH THREAT OF
PRECIP AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WILL HAVE AN EVENING PERIOD.

PRECIP SHOULD EXIT THE REGION OVERNIGHT WITH MOST OF THE WESTERN
COUNTIES CLEAR AND DRY BY MIDNIGHT.  THE REMAINDER OF THE CWA SHOULD
BE MOSTLY CLEAR AND DRY BY MORNING.  THE PRECIP SHOULD CHANGE TO OR
MIX WITH SNOW OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS BEFORE ENDING BY MORNING.

HIGH WILL PUSH INTO THE REGION ON SUNDAY AND THEN BE LOCATED
OVERHEAD SUNDAY NIGHT.  THIS WILL RESULT IN MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND
BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES.

AS THE HIGH PUSHED EAST ON MONDAY...SOUTHERLY WINDS AND MOSTLY CLEAR
SKIES WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO WARM BACK TO NEAR NORMAL VALUES.

REMAINDER OF FORECAST...

SPED THINGS UP 12 HRS WITH NEXT SYS...NOW TIMED FOR MONDAY
NIGHT/TUESDAY.  GOOD MODEL AGRMNT WITH THIS.  BEYOND MIDWEEK...WE
AGAIN ESTABLISH SE RIDGE WITH FRONT SETTING UP TO OUR NORTHWEST.
QUESTON IS HOW CLOSE FRONT GETS THU-FRI PD.  WENT WITH IDEA OF ANY
PRECIP STAYING JUST NW OF CWA UNTIL SAT/SAT NIGHT.  POPS EVEN THEN
DEPEND UPON SHORT WAVE BEING ABLE TO PENETRATE FAR ENOUGH SOUTH AS
MEAN UPPER LEVEL FLOW STILL SW COME NEXT SAT.

RAISED TEMPERATURES FRIDAY TO EQUAL THOSE THURS.  THIS KEEPS PCKG
NOT FAR FROM NUMBERS...EXCEPT TUESDAY NIGHT...WHERE WENT A LITTLE
LOWER ON RADIATION.

.RLX...
WV...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES WVZ005>011...
WVZ013>020...WVZ026>032...WVZ035>040...WVZ046>047.

WV...WIND ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES WVZ024>025...
WVZ033>034.

VA...WIND ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES VAZ003>004.

KY...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES
KYZ101>103...KYZ105.

OH...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES
OHZ066>067...OHZ075>076...OHZ083>087.

.END/JSH/TRM

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Boyd

When: March 9, 4:45 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Boyd forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.360, -82.688 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Carter

When: March 9, 4:45 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Carter forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.318, -83.049 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Greenup

When: March 9, 4:45 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Greenup forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.546, -82.922 (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

More

Every storm in Kentucky in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, March 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: 5282829, 5282830, 5282831.