Heavy rain inundated much of eastern Kentucky on February 14th through February 16th. Anywhere from 3 to 7 inches of rain fell over this 3 day period.
Every event with a place to put it; 54 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 episode as NWS JKL wrote it up.
Heavy rain inundated much of eastern Kentucky on February 14th through February 16th. Anywhere from 3 to 7 inches of rain fell over this 3 day period. This rain initially produced flash flooding for many counties of eastern Kentucky. To complicate matters, ongoing rain induced general flooding over entire counties where much of the flash flooding earlier occurred. The referenced points are generally the first in the county to get generalized flooding, with the rest of the county following suit. To further complicate matters, an ice storm from the same system occurred mainly north of the Mountain Parkway. Some counties received flooding and ice. Each county in the ice storm contained a countywide event, and the referenced location is the first one reported for the corresponding county. The large amounts of rain and ice produced significant damage to homes, cars, churches, schools, trees and power lines. No one died as a direct result of this event. However, near the onset of precipitation, one man died and two were injured in Johnson County after driving over a patch of ice and falling into a creek which contained water of around 2 feet deep.
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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 14, 5:00 PM EST, 5 hours 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 500 PM EST FRI FEB 14 2003 BUSY SHIFT...AFD SHORT AND LATE. BIGGEST FORECAST CONCERNS ARE POTENTIAL FLASH FLOODING...RIVER FLOODING...AND ICE STORM WITHIN THE NEXT FEW PERIODS. A VERY STRONG LOW LEVEL JET IS CURRENTLY ADVECTING COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF MOISTURE AND WARMER TEMPS AT ROUGHLY THE 850 MB LEVEL AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROUGH. THIS SHORTWAVE IS BEING EJECTED FROM AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH LOCATED OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS...WHICH IS MOVING EAST INTO THE HIGH PLAINS TODAY. HIGH PW VALUES WILL BE RAMPANT IN THE FIRST SEVERAL PERIODS. FAVORABLE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION JET DYNAMICS WILL BE IN PLACE ESPECIALLY SATURDAY NIGHT TO HELP TRIGGER MORE HEAVY RAIN. THIS RAIN IS LIKELY TO OCCUR OVER AREAS THAT RECEIVE AT LEAST MODERATE RAIN IN THE SOUTHERN CWA TODAY AND TONIGHT. BIG PROBLEM FOR SATURDAY NIGHT AS A SURFACE COLD AIR INTRUSION WORKS IN FROM THE NORTHEAST AND SIGNIFICANT WARMING AT 850 MB. .JKL...FLOOD WATCH FOR ENTIRE CWA...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ICE ACCUMULATIONS FOR AREAS ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MOUNT VERNON...TO JACKSON...TO PIKEVILLE. HEINLEIN ===================================================================== PREVIOUS FORECAST DISCUSSIONS FOLLOW: 415 AM EST FRI FEB 14 2003 08Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS DEEP LOW PRESSURE OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AS HIGH PRESSURE RETREATS EAST THROUGH THE APPALACHIANS. A WARM FRONT FROM THE LOW IS LIFTING NORTHEAST THROUGH THE LOWER AND MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WITH A LARGE SWATH OF RAINS. ON SATELLITE...A LARGE MASS OF THICKENING HIGH CLOUDS ARE SPREADING OVER KENTUCKY AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM. ON THE REGIONAL RADAR MOSAIC THE NEAREST RAIN FROM THIS IS JUST TO OUR SOUTHWEST. THE LONGER IT TAKES TO GET HERE THE BETTER CHANCE WE HAVE OF DAYLIGHT PULLING TEMPS UP ABOVE FREEZING IN THE SHELTERED VALLEYS. AS IT LOOKS NOW...THE LOCATIONS MOST UNDER THE GUN FOR THIS WINTRY START TO THE RAIN WILL BE OUR SOUTHWEST COUNTIES...AS THE PRECIPITATION REACHES THEM FIRST. THIS IS THE LEADING EDGE OF WHAT MAY WELL BE THE MAJOR WEATHER SYSTEM OF THIS WINTER. THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT ALOFT CONTINUING THERE SOLUTION OF A RIDGE OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST AND BROAD BUT SHARPENING TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE PLAINS AND INTO THE TENNESSEE VALLEY BY SUNDAY NIGHT. ZONAL FLOW THEN FOLLOWS THROUGH MID WEEK. DIFFERENCES REALLY ARE FOUND AT THE LOWER LEVELS WHERE THE 00Z MESOETA HAS COME IN WITH A METEOROLOGICAL ARMAGEDDON FOR EAST KENTUCKY OF HEAVY...FLOODING...RAINS FOLLOWED BY A SIGNIFICANT ICING EVENT FOR OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES. THE AVN IS MORE MILD MANNERED... STILL PREDICTING THE HEAVY RAIN BUT WITH WARMER LOW LEVEL TEMPERATURES LIMITING THE FREEZING RAIN POTENTIAL TO A SMALLER AMOUNT OF TIME SUNDAY. IN ADDITION...ITS EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN WAVES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SFC FEATURES KEEPS THE HEAVIEST RAINS AFTER SATURDAY TO THE SOUTH IN THE WARMER AIR. A QUICK GLANCE AT THE 06Z MESOETA INDICATES THAT IT IS COMING WARMER THAN THE 00Z RUN AND MATCHES UP BETTER WITH THE AVN. ACCORDINGLY... WILL LEAN TOWARD THIS SOLUTION. SENSIBLE WEATHER WILL FEATURE RAIN OVERSPREADING THE AREA THIS MORNING BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. PLENTY OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND A 65+ KT JET AT 850 MB WILL COMBINE TO SURGE HIGH PW AIR INTO THE REGION. THIS MOISTURE LADEN AIR WILL BE LIFTED OVER THE WARM FRONT AS IT GOES STATIONARY THROUGH EAST KENTUCKY. A PROLONGED PERIOD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINS WILL ENSUE WITH FLOODING A DISTINCT CONCERN. EVEN SOME SNOW MELT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS AS BLACK MOUNTAIN REPORTED OVER AN INCH OF LIQUID EQUIVALENT IN ITS SNOWPACK THURSDAY MORNING. WILL CONTINUE THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THIS AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY AND UPDATE IT THIS MORNING. FOR SATURDAY NIGHT THE MODELS DISAGREE ON THE AMOUNT OF QPF THAT FALLS WITH THE AVN LIGHTER. THEY ALSO DISAGREE WITH THE AMOUNT OF COLD AIR MOVING SOUTH INTO THE STATE. FOR NOW WILL LEAN TOWARD THE AVN/S LOW LEVEL TEMPS BUT GO HEAVIER WITH THE QPF AS THE MESOETA/S SFC PATTERN IS MORE REASONABLE. ANY FLOODING PROBLEMS WILL BE ONLY MADE WORSE BY THE ADDITIONAL RAINS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. HOWEVER...OVER OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES MUCH OF THIS RAIN COULD FALL INTO A COLD AIR MASS AND BECOME FREEZING RAIN. WILL HIGHLIGHT THIS CONCERN IN THE WO THIS MORNING. THIS SYSTEM FINALLY MOVES OFF TO THE EAST SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WITH MORE MODERATE TEMPERATURES TO FOLLOW BY THE MIDDLE OF THE NEW WORK WEEK. AS FOR IFPS/GFE REPOPULATED WITH THE 00Z MESOETA TEMPS/DEWS AND WINDS THROUGH 60 HOURS. HAD TO MASSAGE THESE...BLENDING WITH THE WARMER AVN TEMPS. TURNS OUT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA AS THE 06Z MESOETA IS COMING IN WARMER. FINE TUNED TEMP AND WX DETAILS FOR SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...WILL LIKELY BE TINKERING WITH THESE RIGHT UP TO ISSUANCE TIME. MOS NUMBERS ARE SIMILAR FROM ALL THREE SOURCES THROUGH 48 HOURS. STILL LIKE THE IDEA OF AN EARLY LOW TONIGHT AND RISING TEMPS SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAIN PARKWAY AFTER MIDNIGHT. AFTER 48 HOURS JUST KNOCKED DOWN THE MAV NUMBERS A TAD BLENDING WITH THE SLIGHTLY COLDER SFC TEMPS PREDICTED BY THE MESOETA. WORK ZONES AVAILABLE IN THE AFOS PRODUCT SDFOZFJKL BEFORE TOO LONG. UPDATES TO THE FFAJKL AND A NEW SDFHWOJKL HIGHLIGHTING THE FLOODING RAINS AND THEN THE ICE POTENTIAL FOR SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY WILL BE ISSUED BY 6 AM. THANKS FOR THE COORDINATION CALLS ILN AND LMK... ALSO THE CHATTERS AT 12 PLANET. PRELIMINARY CCFS: LOZ 047/040 045/034 037 +++ JKL 045/038 041/032 035 +++ .JKL...FLOOD WATCH FROM NOON FRIDAY THROUGH SAT AFTERNOON FOR ALL ZONES. GREIF
KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-151200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 736 PM EST FRI FEB 14 2003 ...FLOOD WATCH FOR THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY... ...WINTER STORM WATCH FOR ICE ACCUMULATION SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. HEAVY RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ONE TO TWO INCHES FALLING ACROSS EASTERN KENTUCKY OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL LEAD TO RISES ON AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS AND POSSIBLE FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. RAIN WILL CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY NIGHT. RAIN WILL GRADUALLY CHANGE OVER TO FREEZING RAIN SATURDAY EVENING FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF EASTERN KENTUCKY...CONTINUING THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH OF ICE ARE POSSIBLE. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS FOR THE SOUTHERN HALF OF EASTERN KENTUCKY WILL RANGE FROM 1 AND 1/2 TO 2 AND 1/2 INCHES FROM SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND EVEN SOME SNOW IS POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY WITH LITTLE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION EXPECTED. A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW RETURNS TO THE FORECAST ON FRIDAY. FLOODING IS STILL POSSIBLE FOR CREEKS...STREAMS AND EVEN MAJOR WATERWAYS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY THROUGH MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO CALL IN REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS...RAINFALL...SNOWFALL OR FLOODING THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND. DUSTY
The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:49 UTC.
28 flood, 16 flash flood, 9 ice storm, 1 debris flow. Local standard time, as filed.
Water was over Kentucky Highway 312 at the intersection of Interstate 75. Water also covered roads at Lily and Fariston.
Water was covering roads.
One foot of water was flowing over Acup Road off of Highway 15.
Highway 881 was closed due to high water flowing over the road.
Five inches of water from the State Fork was flowing across Highway 40 on the east side of town.
Mill Branch Road was closed due to high, flowing water.
One foot of water was flowing over roads in Flat Lick.
Highway 292 was flooded in many locations.
Two feet of water was over 5th Street and Black Diamond Road.
Highway 3193 was flooded.
Numerous roads had water flowing over them.
Numerous roads in the area had flowing water over them, with over a foot of flowing water near Crystal.
Three feet of water was over Highway 578.
Eight inches of water were flowing across Highway 11 at Longbranch.
Highway 52 was closed between mile markers 1 and 2 due to high water.
Portions of Highway 1427 and 194 were closed due to several feet of flowing water.
One to two feet of water was flowing over Hinkston Pike. Also, one foot of water was flowing over Highway 460 near Jeffersonville.
United States Highway 23 was under water near the Letcher and Pike County line. Several structures were damaged in Happy Hollow.
Several mudslides occurred near Garrett and Martin. Some roads were impassable with some water over the roads.
Highway 211 just outside of Salt Lick had 8 to 10 inches of water over the road.
Roads were closed throughout the county due to high water.
There was up to half an inch of ice on trees.
Flood waters from the Red River were flooding Highway 191 near Daysboro, just outside of Hazel Green.
Roads were closed throughout the county due to high water.
Roads were closed throughout the county. Many homes and cars sustained water damage.
Roads were closed throughout the county due to high water.
Highway 3193 was closed due to high water.
Trees and power lines were down due to ice. Transformers were blown due to the weight of the ice. Four tenths of an inch accumulation on many trees.
Highway 7 at Wicks Branch was under water.
Highway 805 was underwater with trees washing across the road.
Water was across Highway 221, Highway 66, and Green's Strait near Pineville.
There was up to half an inch of ice on trees.
Up to half an inch of ice on trees.
Highway 699 was blocked due to high water.
Water covering Highway 421 north of McKee. A church parking lot was under water.
Numerous roads were closed due to high water throughout the county.
Numerous roads were closed due to high water countywide.
Numerous roads were closed due to high water countywide.
One foot of water covered Hopkins Crematory Road in Echo Valley.
Highway 292, 1714, 40, and 908 were closed due to several feet of water from backed up tributaries to the Tug Fork.
Highway 1326 was underwater. Several mudslides also occurred in conjunction with the high water.
A bridge was washed out on Congleton Bridge Hollow Road off of Highway 851
Numerous Roads were closed. Two swift water rescues were done. Seventy percent of the county was without power either due to ice or flooding.
River Street in Oneida was covered with at least one foot of water. Water touched the Post Office patio, 9.5 inches from the flood mark of 1947. Damage to cars and domicile alike occurred.
The junction of Highway 40 and 581 was completely covered by water. The intersection was closed.
Lower Island Creek Bridge on Highway 1350 and 846 was under up to 6 feet of water.
Evacuations began along Highway 460, 7 miles east of West Liberty.
One and one half to two inches of ice and sleet on the ground and trees.
Widespread flooding in low lying areas countywide.
Widespread power outages were reported countywide. Thick ice was on trees and power lines.
One inch of ice reported on trees and power lines. Widespread power outages were reported countywide.
One half inch of ice was mainly on trees.
One quarter inch of ice was on trees.
Highway 460 and 191 were covered in water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, February 2003
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: 5345729, 5345507, 5345052, 5344364, 5344366, 5344365, 5345831, 5344367, 5345044, 5344368, 5344369, 5345042, 5345043, 5345045, 5345049, 5345050, 5345051, 5345047, 5345048, 5345832, 5345833, 5345829, 5345046, 5344361, 5344362, 5344363, 5345834, 5345827, 5345401, 5345402, 5345403, 5345830, 5345828, 5345404, 5345405, 5345406, 5345500, 5345501, 5345502, 5345503, and more.