Numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred along and ahead of a cold front as it moved east across Missouri. One of the storms produced a lightning strike that damaged a building.
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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.
Numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred along and ahead of a cold front as it moved east across Missouri. One of the storms produced a lightning strike that damaged a building.
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 Oct 7, 2:29 AM CST, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 329 AM CDT TUE OCT 7 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE PCPN EVENT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR IS FINALLY UNDERWAY IN THE MO OZARKS THIS MORNING. NO TSTMS WERE SEEN YET IN THE PAH FCST AREA... JUST SHWRS. A SHARP MID LEVEL TROF ACROSS THE CENTRAL CONUS IS PROGGED BY THE MODELS TO SPLIT INTO TWO TROFS AS IT MOVES EWD. ACCORDINGLY...MOST MODELS SHOW TWO SEPARATE SFC LOWS WITH WEAK SFC BOUNDARIES THAT ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE EWD ALSO. THE SRN LOW AND FRONT SHOULD BE IN OUR VICINITY BY LATE TONIGHT AS THE PARENT MID LEVEL TROF HEADS ESEWD TOWARD THE DEEP SOUTH. MEANWHILE...RAINFALL WILL BE ALMOST A CERTAINTY THIS MORNING FOR THE WRN HALF OF THE REGION. ERN PARTS OF SWRN IND AND THE KY PENNYRILE REGION MAY NOT GET RAIN UNTIL EVE AS IT WILL TAKE A WHILE FOR THE RELATIVELY DRY ATMOSPHERE TO MOISTEN UP. ATTM...IT APPEARS TSTM ACTIVITY IN AR WILL EVENTUALLY TRANSLATE NWD INTO MAINLY SERN MO AND PART OF THE PURCHASE AREA OF KY THIS MORNING. EVEN IN THE AFTN...TSTM ACTIVITY WILL BE THE MOST LIKELY IN SERN MO/PURCHASE AREA OF KY/SWRN IL. THIS WILL BE BECAUSE OF INCREASED INSTABILITY DUE TO LOW LEVEL WAA AHEAD OF THE AFOREMENTIONED SFC LOW...AND COOLING ALOFT. IN THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTN...BULK SHEAR OF MORE THAN 40 KT /0-6KM/ COULD HELP A STRONGER TSTM OR TWO KICK OUT SOME SMALL HAIL. WIDESPREAD PCPN AND CLOUDINESS SHOULD LIMIT SVR WX POTENTIAL IN OUR REGION. PCPN DURING THE DAY ON WED WILL BE MAINLY LIGHT SHWRS AS THE SYSTEM DEPARTS. SOME SHWRS MAY LINGER INTO WED EVE IN THE DEFORMATION ZONE BETWEEN THE OPENING NRN TROF AND THE CLOSED SRN TROF. THU ON...THE PAH FCST AREA WILL BE UNDER A MID LEVEL SWRLY FLOW REGIME...MEANING ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS...SOMEWHAT HIGHER HUMIDITIES...AND MOSTLY RAIN FREE CONDITIONS. THE ECMWF HINTS AT THE SLIGHT POSSIBILITY OF SOME SHWRS ON SUNDAY. NO CHANGES WERE MADE AFTER DAY 5 IN THIS PACKAGE. && .AVIATION... VFR CIGS AND VSBYS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. AFTER 11Z...SCT -SHRA WILL BE POSSIBLE AT KCGI AND KPAH...WITH SHRA AND TSRA BECOMING PREDOMINANT AFTER 14Z. WITH THE SHRA AND TSRA...MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS CAN BE EXPECTED...WITH IFR VSBYS POSSIBLE AT TIMES. SCT -SHRA WILL MAKE IT TO KEVV AND KOWB AFTER 15Z...WITH SHRA AND TSRA BECOMING WIDESPREAD AFTER 18Z. SOUTHEAST WINDS AT 3 TO 6 KTS OVERNIGHT WILL BECOME MORE SOUTHERLY AND INCREASE TO 6 TO 12 KTS AFTER 12Z. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC...DB AVIATION...RLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 455 AM CDT TUE OCT 7 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-081000- 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- 455 AM CDT TUE OCT 7 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP MAINLY ACROSS THE WESTERN PART OF THE REGION TODAY. SOME THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL. TONIGHT...THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH OVER SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI BUT SHOULD BE AT LEAST SCATTERED OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES EASTWARD. WHILE WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS NOT ANTICIPATED WITH AN INCH TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF TOTAL AVERAGE RAINFALL... LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MAY OCCUR IN SOME THUNDERSTORMS...POTENTIALLY CAUSING BRIEF WATER PROBLEMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY LINGER IN SOUTHWESTERN INDIANA AND THE PENNYRILE REGION OF KENTUCKY ON WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck an ambulance building in Mount Vernon. The lightning struck the radio communications tower, then travelled down cables to the building. A small fire was started where electrical lines entered the building. Damage to the building was very minor.
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, October 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: 136205.