The new year started off as an active one, with numerous systems traversing the region. These systems brought rain, snow, and thunder.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 PAH wrote it up.
The new year started off as an active one, with numerous systems traversing the region. These systems brought rain, snow, and thunder. The frequency of systems caused enough rainfall to push the Wabash River above flood stage.
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 Jan 12, 2:47 AM CST, 7 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 247 AM CST SAT JAN 12 2008 .DISCUSSION... BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN THE SHORT TERM WILL BE POPS...PRECIP TYPE...AND QPF TONIGHT...SUNDAY...AND THEN AGAIN ON MONDAY. LATEST SATELLITE PICS SHOWING NICE ROTATION AS A STORM SYSTEM MOVES SOUTHEAST INTO IOWA EARLY THIS MORNING. THE COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE TOWARD THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY TODAY AND REACH THE NORTHWESTERN AND WESTERN BORDERS OF OUR CWA BY 00Z SUNDAY. DUE TO LACK OF MOISTURE AND LATEST MODEL RUNS BACKING OFF ON POPS...REMOVED SCHC POPS FOR TODAY. THIS EVENING WITH THE FROPA AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE INCREASES AND COLDER AIR IS EVENTUALLY DRAWN ACROSS THE CWA ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE SURFACE LOW...THREW IN A CHANCE OF LIGHT SPRINKLES OR FLURRIES OVER THE WESTERN AND NORTHWESTERN COUNTIES. AFTER MIDNIGHT AS THE UPPER TROF ASSOCIATED MOVES A BIT CLOSER AND TAPS INTO INCREASING POST FRONTAL MOISTURE...EXPECT THE BEST CHANCES OF PRECIP TO BE OVER THE SOUTHEAST THIRD OF THE CWA WITH SLIGHT CHANCES ELSEWHERE. PER 1000-850MB THICKNESSES AND MODEL SOUNDINGS...WENT WITH A RAIN/SNOW MIX OVER THE SOUTHEAST CORNER WITH FLURRIES ELSEWHERE. KINDA TOUGH DECIDING WHAT TO DO SUNDAY MORNING. MODELS INDICATING A CHANCE OF PRECIP GENERALLY OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA WITH THE BEST CHANCES OVER THE SOUTHEAST CORNER. SINCE MODEL SOUNDINGS ARE SHOWING A SATURATED ATMOSPHERE AT 12Z WITH PLENTY OF ICE NUCLEATION ...JUST WENT WITH ALL SNOW...BUT NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF QPF OR SNOWFALL. BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE HAVING MOVED EAST OF THE REGION...JUST MENTIONED FLURRIES OVER THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE CWA. SUNDAY NIGHT SHOULD BE DRY BUT ON MONDAY THE COMBINATION OF A SHORT WAVE DIVING SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE CWA AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE EITHER LIGHT RAIN OR SNOW THERE. MAY BE SOME LINGERING FLURRIES OVER THE EASTERN SECTIONS MONDAY NIGHT...BUT WITH NONE OF THE MODELS SHOWING MUCH FOR THAT PERIOD...WILL LEAVE DRY FOR NOW. MADE NO CHANGES BEYOND MONDAY NIGHT. FOR TEMPERATURES...GENERALLY TRENDED TOWARD COOLER NUMBERS. && .AVIATION... FOR THE FIRST 1-2 HOURS OF THE 12Z TAF PERIOD...I WILL CONSIDER SOME MVFR VISIBILITIES FOR THE KEVV AND KOWB SITES...AS ANTECEDENT MOISTURE FROM LATE DEPARTING STRATUS CLOUD DECK FRIDAY EVENING. FOR THE REST OF THE TAF SITES...I PLAN TO INTRODUCE VFR SCATTERED TO BROKEN CEILINGS THROUGHOUT THE DAY. BY 06Z SUNDAY...WILL LOWER CEILINGS FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE WFO PAH TAF SITES INTO THE 2500/3000 FT AGL CATEGORY. WET BULB TEMPERATURES AND LIFT SUGGEST THAT LIGHT RAIN OR SNOW WILL BE THE PREDOMINANT WEATHER ELEMENT IN THE 06-12Z SUNDAY TIME FRAME. THE MAIN INFLUENCE DURING THIS TIME PERIOD WILL BE IN THE INTRODUCTION OF MVFR CEILINGS. VISIBILITIES SHOULD STILL REMAIN IN THE VFR CATEGORY FOR ALL THE TAF SITES DURING THE LAST 6 HOURS OF THE 24 HOUR FORECAST. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC...JAP AVIATION...KES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 330 AM CST SAT JAN 12 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-131030- JEFFERSON-WAYNE IL-EDWARDS-WABASH-PERRY IL-FRANKLIN-HAMILTON- WHITE-JACKSON-WILLIAMSON-SALINE-GALLATIN-UNION IL-JOHNSON-POPE- HARDIN-ALEXANDER-PULASKI-MASSAC-GIBSON-PIKE-POSEY-VANDERBURGH- WARRICK-SPENCER-FULTON-HICKMAN-CARLISLE-BALLARD-MCCRACKEN-GRAVES- LIVINGSTON-MARSHALL-CALLOWAY-CRITTENDEN-LYON-TRIGG-CALDWELL- UNION KY-WEBSTER-HOPKINS-CHRISTIAN-HENDERSON-DAVIESS-MCLEAN- MUHLENBERG-TODD-PERRY MO-BOLLINGER-CAPE GIRARDEAU-WAYNE MO-CARTER- RIPLEY-BUTLER-STODDARD-SCOTT-MISSISSIPPI-NEW MADRID- 330 AM CST SAT JAN 12 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW FLURRIES ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT ACROSS THE QUAD STATE REGION...OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES ARE POSSIBLE GENERALLY OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE QUAD STATE REGION SUNDAY MORNING...BUT LITTLE TO NO ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WEATHER SYSTEM FORECAST TO AFFECT THE AREA WILL BE NEXT WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. A LIGHT WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME FRAME. HOWEVER IT IS TOO SOON TO DETERMINE IF THERE WILL BE ANY IMPACTS WITH THIS SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. JAP
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding of the Wabash River occurred. At Mount Carmel, where flood stage is 19 feet, the river crested at 21.57 feet on the 18th. Minor flooding of bottomland fields occurred. Some low oil wells were shut down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, January 2008
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: 72872.