Name: Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 28, 2002
Start: 2002-05-28T18:15
End: 2002-05-28T18:15
Location: Kentucky

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 2:01 PM EST, 4 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:01 PM EST, 4 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
230 PM EDT TUE MAY 28 2002

SUMMERLIKE PTRN WL DOMINANT WX FOR NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ORGANIZED
TSTMS NOT EXPECTED AS WK FLOW REGIME AND LACK OF SIGNIF FORCING WL
MAKE LOW-LEVEL THERMODYNAMICS AND BNDRIES THE DOMINANT MECHANISMS
FOR PRODUCING SCT CNVCTN. THUS...DIFFICULT TO PINDOWN LOCATIONS AND
COVERAGE OF TSTMS NEXT FEW DAYS. NEVERTHELESS...CERTAIN TRENDS
SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING.

FOR THIS EVENING...CURRENT VIS IMAGERY SHOWS TSTMS ERUPTING IN SERN
IN TO SRN OH ALG OUTFLOW BNDRY FM EARLIER ACTIVITY. LOOKS LIKE THIS
ACTIVITY WL REMAIN NORTH OF FCST AREA. ALSO SCT TSTMS DVLPG ROUGHLY
BTWN SDF AND EVV ON NRN PERIPHERY OF CLD CVR AND SML AREA OF LGT
RAIN JUST W AND NW OF BWG. EXPECT THESE STMS TO CONT LATE THIS AFTN
INTO EARLY EVNG AS THEY DRIFT TO THE NE. A FEW OTHER TSTMS COULD
DRIFT INTO PARTS OF S-CNTRL KY FM MID TN. OVR E-CNTRL KY...CU
FIELD IS LESS PRONOUNCED AT THIS TIME WITH A CI CANOPY MOVING IN
ALTHO MSAS SFC DATA SHOWS AXIS OF INSTBLTY FM S-CNTRL IN THRU
E-CNTRL KY. THUS WL KEEP MENTION OF WDLY SCT TSTMS OVR E-CNTRL KY
INTO EARLY EVNG.

ON WED...AVN AND ETA SUGGEST UPR RIDGE WL TRY TO BUILD WWD A BIT
INTO OH VLY TO THE NE OF A SIGNIF S/WV SETTLING INTO LWR MS VLY.
THUS MODELS BRING LOWER MEAN RH FM THE SERN U.S. INTO CNTRL KY. THIS
WOULD ACT TO SUPPRESS TSTM DVLPMT...ALTHO ADDTNL HEATING WOULD KEEP
ATMOS UNSTBL WITH ANY WK LOW-LVL BNDRIES ACTING TO INITIATE
SCT/WDLY SCT TSTMS. GIVEN UNCERTAINLY AT THIS TIME...WL KEEP MENTION
OF TSTMS IN FCST FOR WED EXCEPT ACRS SERN PART OF FCST AREA WHERE
AVN MORE AGGRESSIVE IN BRINGING IN MORE STABLE AIR.

ON THURS...MODELS SHOW MID LVL TROF/DEFORMATION AXIS APRCHG FM THE
WEST...ALONG WITH AMPLE LOW-LVL MSTR AND INSTBLTY. THUS...SHLD SEE
DIURNAL SCT TSTMS OVR CNTRL KY/S-CNTRL IN JUST S AND E OF
DEFORMATION AXIS.

ON FRI...MAY SEE MINIMAL TSTM ACTIVITY BUT WL KEEP MENTION IN SERN
PART OF AREA. THEN...AVN SUGGESTS DRIER LOW-LVL AIR MASS WL TRY TO
MOVE INTO AREA BY SATURDAY IN NW FLOW REGIME. IF SO...THEN COULD SEE
SCT TSTMS FRI NGT NEAR BNDRY BTWN POOLED MSTR OVR CNTRL KY AND DRIER
AIR MASS IMPINGING FM THE N.

GUIDANCE TEMPS IN THE 80S WITH LOWS IN THE 60S LOOKS PRETTY MUCH ON
TARGET.

.SDF...NONE.
FUNK

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Clark

When: May 28, 6:15 PM EST
Where: Clark County, Winchester
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 37.983, -84.183

Trees were downed.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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, 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: 5300045.