Flash Flood in Kentucky, March 20, 2004

Name: Flash Flood in Kentucky, March 20, 2004
Start: 2004-03-20T12:38
End: 2004-03-20T13:30
Location: Kentucky

March 20, 2004 · NWS PAH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

5 inches of rain in 30 minutes. Street flooding was common.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

A slow-moving line of thunderstorms crossed Murray, producing about 1.5 inches of rain in 30 minutes. Street flooding was common. Water was overflowing 4th Street, Highway 121, and Sycamore Street. In excess of 8 inches of water was over the road at 6th and Poplar.

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 Mar 20, 8:57 AM CST, 3 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 20, 8:57 AM CST, 3 hours 41 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...DELAYED TRANSMISSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
857 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

.DISCUSSION...
CURRENT RADAR SHOWING WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH POTENTIAL
FOR UP TO DIME SIZE HAIL POSSIBLE THIS MORNING OVER SRN ILLINOIS.

CURRENT CONVECTION FIRING IN VICINITY OF SURFACE CONVERGENCE
BOUNDARY..POOLING UPPER 50/LOWER 60 DEWPOINTS ACROSS SWRN IL/SERN MO
THIS AM. GOES SOUNDER IMAGES ALSO HINTING THAT THIS AREA HAS LIFTED
INDEXES OF -2 TO -3...AND PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES OF 1 TO 1.2
INCHES. THUS...SMALL HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN A POSSIBILITY.

00Z UPPER AIR CHARTS SHOWED MINOR SW-NE ORIENTED MOISTURE AXIS AT
925 MB. A WEAK VORT CENTER DEPICTED ON 50H CHART OF CENTRAL MO
HELPED TO ISENTROPICALLY LIFT HIGH STRATUS DECK OVER SERN MO/WRN
IL/WRN KY THIS MORNING AND AIDED IN DEVELOPING SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS OVER AND ELEVATED WARM FRONT ALONG THE EASTERN END OF
OUR CWA. CONVECTION FIRED TO THE EAST AROUND 8Z AND WEAKENED AS IT
MOVED EAST.

THE EASTERN LIMB OF DEEPER/LONGER AXIS OF MOISTURE WAS NOTED FROM
WRN MO TO MI OVERNIGHT...AND WILL CONTINUE TO TRANSLATE EWD TODAY.
RUC/AVN GUIDANCE APPEARS TO BE DOING FAIRLY WELL WITH TIMING OF
PRE-FRONTAL CONVECTION...AND HIGHER MOISTURE INFLUX INTO SERN
MO/SERN IL. KEPT GENERAL TRANSITION OF CONVECTION FROM NW TO SE
TODAY PER YESTERDAYS GRIDDED FORECAST...CLEARING OUT ANY PCPN OVER
MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA BY THIS EVENING.

MINOR TIMING CHANGES WERE MADE TO HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK TO
ACCOMODATE FOR EARLIER ONSET OF SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL TODAY.

OTHERWISE...LITTLE CHANGE TO TEMPERATURE FORECAST TODAY THROUGH
MONDAY...EXCEPT FOR TIMING OF MAX TEMPS TODAY.

ENSEMBLE MEAN HEIGHTS/QPF/RH STILL SUGGEST A SMALL CHANCE FOR
SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ON THU AS SURFACE RIDGE MOVES EAST
OF THE FORECAST AREA. ALTHOUGH LOWERED DURING FRIDAYS
FORECAST...KEPT SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN PLACE FOR WESTERN TWO-THIRDS
OF THE REGION.

.PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IL...NONE.
IN...NONE.
KY...NONE.
MO...NONE.

&&

SMITH

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 20, 4:53 AM CST, 7 hours 45 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
453 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100-
107>112-114-211100-
ALEXANDER IL-BALLARD KY-BOLLINGER MO-BUTLER MO-CALDWELL KY-
CALLOWAY KY-CAPE GIRARDEAU MO-CARLISLE KY-CARTER MO-CHRISTIAN KY-
CRITTENDEN KY-DAVIESS KY-EDWARDS IL-FRANKLIN IL-FULTON KY-
GALLATIN IL-GIBSON IN-GRAVES KY-HAMILTON IL-HARDIN IL-HENDERSON KY-
HICKMAN KY-HOPKINS KY-JACKSON IL-JEFFERSON IL-JOHNSON IL-
LIVINGSTON KY-LYON KY-MARSHALL KY-MASSAC IL-MCCRACKEN KY-MCLEAN KY-
MISSISSIPPI MO-MUHLENBERG KY-NEW MADRID MO-PERRY MO-PERRY IL-PIKE IN-
POPE IL-POSEY IN-PULASKI IL-RIPLEY MO-SALINE IL-SCOTT MO-SPENCER IN-
STODDARD MO-TODD KY-TRIGG KY-UNION KY-UNION IL-VANDERBURGH IN-
WABASH IL-WARRICK IN-WAYNE MO-WAYNE IL-WEBSTER KY-WHITE IL-
WILLIAMSON IL-
453 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND WESTERN KENTUCKY.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS
MORNING...NORTH OF A LINE FROM NEW MADRID MISSOURI TO EVANSVILLE
INDIANA. THE CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL SHIFT SOUTH OF THIS LINE
DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS.

CLUSTERS OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP AND MOVE TOWARD
SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI BETWEEN 8 AND 10
AM...STRETCHING ALONG THE OHIO RIVER AROUND THE NOON HOUR. A FEW OF
THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

NEARLY ALL OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD EXIT THE QUAD STATE
REGION BETWEEN 5 PM AND 9 PM...ENDING ANY FURTHER THREAT FOR SEVERE
WEATHER.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED THROUGHOUT THE QUAD STATE AREA
LATE THIS MORNING AND INTO THE AFTERNOON.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 20, 10:48 AM CST, 1 hour 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1048 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1038 AM     HAIL             HENDERSON               37.84N 87.58W
03/20/2004  1.75 INCH        HENDERSON          KY   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

WIELGOS

Local storm report, Mar 20, 10:50 AM CST, 1 hour 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1050 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1049 AM     HAIL             OWENSBORO               37.76N 87.12W
03/20/2004  0.75 INCH        DAVIESS            KY   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

WIELGOS

Local storm report, Mar 20, 10:53 AM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1053 AM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1053 AM     HAIL             OWENSBORO               37.76N 87.12W
03/20/2004  0.88 INCH        DAVIESS            KY   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

WIELGOS

Local storm report, Mar 20, 12:31 PM CST, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1231 PM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1228 AM     HAIL             MURRAY                  36.61N 88.32W
03/20/2004  0.25 INCH        CALLOWAY           KY   EMERGENCY MNGR

&&

WIELGOS

Local storm report, Mar 20, 12:31 PM CST, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION FROM AM TO PM
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1231 PM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1228 PM     HAIL             MURRAY                  36.61N 88.32W
03/20/2004  0.25 INCH        CALLOWAY           KY   EMERGENCY MNGR

&&

WIELGOS

Local storm report, Mar 20, 12:37 PM CST, 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1237 PM CST SAT MAR 20 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1228 PM     FLASH FLOOD      MURRAY                  36.61N 88.32W
03/20/2004                   CALLOWAY           KY   EMERGENCY MNGR

            WATER OVERFLOWING SEVERAL ROADS IN MURRAY...INCLUDING 4TH
            STREET...HWY 121 AND SYCAMORE STREET.

1230 PM     FLASH FLOOD      MURRAY                  36.61N 88.32W
03/20/2004                   CALLOWAY           KY   EMERGENCY MNGR

            IN EXCESS OF 8 INCHES OF WATER OVER THE ROAD AT 6TH
            STREET AND POPLAR IN MURRAY.

&&

WIELGOS

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:39 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Calloway

When: March 20, 12:38 PM CST to 1:30 PM CST
Where: Calloway County, Murray
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.621, -88.272 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kentucky in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, March 2004

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: 5386995.