Minor flooding of the Little Wabash River occurred. Several cold fronts moved across the region through mid-month.
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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.
Minor flooding of the Little Wabash River occurred. Several cold fronts moved across the region through mid-month. Each front brought scattered storms.
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 13, 1:20 AM CST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 220 AM CDT TUE MAY 13 2008 .DISCUSSION... HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST AWAY FROM THE REGION TODAY WITH INCREASINGLY MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW SETTING UP ACROSS THE FA. CLOUDS WILL GRADUALLY BE ON THE INCREASE FROM WEST TO EAST. WEAK WAA/ISENT LIFT 300-310K MAY TRIGGER SOME ISOLD WEAK CONVECTION OVER SE MISSOURI BY LATE AFTERNOON. PDEF VALUES STILL NOT VERY LOW...SO WILL KEEP POPS DOWN TOWARD SLIGHT CHANCE. POPS WILL INCREASE SHARPLY TONIGHT FROM WEST TO EAST AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY. BEST POPS WILL TRANSLATE FROM WEST TO EAST ON WEDNESDAY AS THE BOUNDARY MOVES INTO THE CWFA. MODELS VARY ON WHERE THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL STALL BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SREF AND GFS...AND HAVE IT ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN MOST COUNTIES WEDNESDAY NIGHT. WILL CONTINUE WITH HIGHER POPS SOUTH...LOW POPS NORTH...THEN SPREAD THE POPS BACK NORTH AND RAISE THEM TO LIKELY FOR THURSDAY...AS THE MID LEVEL WAVE MOVES ACROSS THE FA. USED A BLEND OF GUIDANCE IN THE SHORT TERM. WILL TAPER OFF POPS THURSDAY NIGHT INTO THE FIRST HALF OF FRIDAY AS THE H7 TROF AXIS AND DEEPER MOISTURE MOVE EAST OF THE REGION. WILL HAVE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY DRY...THEN MONITOR FOR VERY LOW POPS ACROSS OUR EASTERN MOST COUNTIES THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEKEND INTO MONDAY...AS A DEEP VORTEX TAKES SHAPE SOUTH OF HUDSON BAY CANADA AND HEADS SOUTHEAST TOWARD THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. THIS SET UP WILL LIKELY RESULT IN A STRENGTHENING NW FLOW ALOFT FROM THE NORTHERN PLAINS AND GREAT LAKES...SOUTH ACROSS THE OHIO AND TENNESSEE VALLEY REGIONS INTO THE MID ATLANTIC. && .AVIATION... GRADUAL INCREASE AND LOWERING OF CLOUDINESS WILL OCCUR OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. MAINLY HIGH CIRRUS CLOUDS EXPECTED THIS MORNING...FOLLOWED BY A MID DECK IN THE AFTERNOON AND THEN SOME LOW CLOUDS THIS EVENING. CONDITIONS SHOULD REMAIN VFR THROUGH THE EVENING. THE CLOUDS WILL BE IN RESPONSE TO INCREASING SOUTHERLY FLOW OF MOIST AIR AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT OVER THE PLAINS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND TSTMS WILL NEED TO BE ADDED WITH THE ISSUANCE OF THE 12Z TAFS. WINDS WILL INCREASE AND BECOME RATHER GUSTY TODAY. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 325 AM CDT TUE MAY 13 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-141000- 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- 325 AM CDT TUE MAY 13 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF STORMS LATE IN THE DAY INTO SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...THEN AN INCREASING CHANCE OF STORMS TONIGHT FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE REGION. ISOLATED STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. A SEVERE STORM CANNOT BE RULED OUT OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...WITH HAIL OR LOCALLY HIGH WIND GUSTS THE MAIN HAZARDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY... MAINLY OVER SOUTHERN AND SOUTHEAST SECTIONS OF THE FOUR STATE AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. HOWEVER...SKYWARN SPOTTERS ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI SHOULD MONITOR THE FORECAST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...IN CASE THE PROBABILITY OF SEVERE WEATHER INCREASES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Moderate flooding of the Little Wabash River occurred. At the Carmi gage, the river crested at 32.25 feet on the 21st. Flood stage there is 27 feet. County roads were inundated. Flood waters backed up McHenry Slough, and areas near Route 1 and 14 in Carmi began to flood.
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, May 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: 98578.