Hail in Kentucky, May 25, 2002

Name: Hail in Kentucky, May 25, 2002
Start: 2002-05-25T15:15
End: 2002-05-25T18:13
Location: Kentucky

May 25, 2002 · NWS PAH · 15 events in 11 counties and zones

Fifteen reports of large hail were received from western Kentucky. Golf-ball size hail was reported at Dawson Springs, which is between Princeton and Lake Barkley.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 15

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.

Fifteen reports of large hail were received from western Kentucky. Golf-ball size hail was reported at Dawson Springs, which is between Princeton and Lake Barkley. All the other reports were of dime to quarter-size hail.

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 May 25, 12:00 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 25, 12:00 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
100 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002

LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS DEPICTS LOW NEAR CHI WITH A COLD FRONT
EXTENDING SOUTHWESTWARD THROUGH THE UNO AREA INTO NE TEXAS. A WARM
FRONT EXTENDED EASTWARD FROM THE LOW...ACROSS IN AND OH. DEWPOINTS
WERE WELL INTO THE LOWER 60S OVER THE FA. VIS SAT PICS SHOW A FEW
CLOUDS OVER AREA HOWEVER...DENSE CLOUDS REMAINED NEAR THE BOUNDARY
AND POST FRONTAL.

SURFACE LOW HAD ROCKETED OUT OF THE PLAINS AND INTO NE ILLINOIS
OVERNIGHT INTO THIS MORNING. THIS MOVEMENT SHOULD CONTINUE THIS
AFTERNOON AS UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE ROTATES THROUGH. THE 12Z SAT
MESO ETA SHOWS DECENT LOW LEVEL INSTABILITY WITH LIS TO -4...CAPES
NEAR 1500 J/KG...SHOWALTERS AROUND ZERO...AND K INDICIES AROUND 30.
IN CONTRAST...THE SURFACE LOW IS LIFTING NE AWAY FROM THE AREA AND
TAKING THE BEST CONVERGENCE WITH IT. KPAH VWP INDICATES LITTLE
DIRECTIONAL SHEAR AND RELATIVELY MODEST SPEED SHEAR. THUS ANY
THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO BECOME SEVERE WOULD NOT LIKELY BE TORNADIC.
WITH A FRONT IN THE AREA AT PEAK HEATING AND THE FREEZING LEVEL
AROUND 12K AND WET BULB ZERO AROUND 10K WOULD NOT RULE OUT HAIL OR
WIND SHOULD ANY STORMS GET GOING OVER FA.

AFTER TODAY SHOULD REMAIN RELATIVELY DRY THROUGH THE WEEK WITH THE
BEST CHANCE OF RAIN ARRIVING AGAIN ON THURSDAY. ALTHOUGH ITS THE
BEST CHANCE ITS STILL NOT A GOOD CHANCE AND WILL MAINTAIN CURRENT
DRY FORECAST UNTIL STRONGER EVIDENCE PRESENTS ITSELF OR MODELS SHOW
A BETTER RUN TO RUN CONTINUITY.

NUMERICAL GUIDANCE KEEPS MOST OF FA IN THE 80S THROUGHOUT THE RUN
AND WILL FOLLOW THAT TREND ESPECIALLY EARLY IN THE WORK WEEK. WILL
MODERATE LOWS OUT OF THE 50S AND INTO THE 60S MONDAY NIGHT.

.PAH...NONE.
KH

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 25, 1:18 PM CST, 1 hour 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
218 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0200 PM                              IL   WIND DAMAGE
05/25/02   JEFFERSON                      LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN ON
                                          HWY 148...SOUTH OF MT.
                                          VERNON. REPORTED BY
                                          JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFFS
                                          OFFICE.

Local storm report, May 25, 2:01 PM CST, 1 hour 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
301 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0258 PM    HERRIN                    IL   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/25/02   WILLIAMSON                     REPORTED BY STATE POLICE
                                          POST DISTRICT 13

Local storm report, May 25, 2:04 PM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
304 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0300 PM    CRAINVILLE                IL   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/25/02   WILLIAMSON                     REPORTED BY WSIL-TV 3

Local storm report, May 25, 2:17 PM CST, 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
317 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0310 PM    MARION                    IL   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/25/02   WILLIAMSON                     REPORTED BY SKYWARN STORM
                                          SPOTTER

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

15 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Henderson

When: May 25, 3:15 PM CST
Where: Henderson County, 1 mi S of Henderson
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: POST OFFICE
Coordinates: 37.833, -87.583

Hail, Henderson

When: May 25, 3:40 PM CST
Where: Henderson County, Corydon
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.733, -87.700

Hail, Union

When: May 25, 4:15 PM CST
Where: Union County, Morganfield
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.683, -87.917

Hail, Crittenden

When: May 25, 4:45 PM CST
Where: Crittenden County, 3 mi N of Marion
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.383, -88.083

Hail, Ballard

When: May 25, 4:45 PM CST
Where: Ballard County, Bandana
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: INSURANCE COMPANY
Coordinates: 37.150, -88.950

Hail, McCracken

When: May 25, 4:55 PM CST
Where: McCracken County, Ragland
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.167, -88.900

Hail, Livingston

When: May 25, 4:55 PM CST
Where: Livingston County, Burna
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.250, -88.367

Hail, Daviess

When: May 25, 5:06 PM CST
Where: Daviess County, St Joseph
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.700, -87.333

Hail, Webster

When: May 25, 5:15 PM CST
Where: Webster County, Dixon
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.517, -87.700

Hail, Hopkins

When: May 25, 5:20 PM CST
Where: Hopkins County, Dawson Spgs
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.167, -87.700

Hail, Crittenden

When: May 25, 5:30 PM CST
Where: Crittenden County, 1 mi N of Marion
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.333, -88.083

Hail, Carlisle

When: May 25, 5:39 PM CST
Where: Carlisle County, 2 mi SW of Bardwell
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.850, -89.050

Hail, Daviess

When: May 25, 5:40 PM CST
Where: Daviess County, Whitesville
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.683, -86.883

Hail, Livingston

When: May 25, 5:45 PM CST
Where: Livingston County, Iuka
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.083, -88.233

Hail, Lyon

When: May 25, 6:13 PM CST
Where: Lyon County, Kuttawa
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.067, -88.117

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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, May 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: 5295574, 5295575, 5295576, 5295577, 5295578, 5295579, 5295580, 5295581, 5295582, 5295583, 5295584, 5295585, 5295586, 5295587, 5295588.