Locally heavy rain occurred near a slow-moving cold front that extended from northeast to southwest across western Kentucky.
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.
Locally heavy rain occurred near a slow-moving cold front that extended from northeast to southwest across western Kentucky.
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 Sep 3, 2:10 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 310 PM CDT WED SEP 3 2008 DISCUSSION... MAIN POINT OF CONCERN CONTINUES TO BE WITH FLOODING POTENTIAL WITH REMNANTS OF GUSTAV...AT LEAST WITHIN THE WFO PAH FORECAST AREA TONIGHT INTO THU. NO FLASH FLOOD/FLOOD WATCHES ARE PLANNED OR ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. THIS DOES NOT RULE OUT SOME HEAVY RAINFALL FOR SEVERAL SOUTHEAST MISSOURI COUNTIES...ESPECIALLY FROM TONIGHT /AFTER 00Z THURSDAY/ THROUGH NOON THURSDAY. THE MAIN COUNTIES OF CONCERN IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI WILL BE CARTER/RIPLEY/WAYNE/BUTLER... WITH MOST OF THE HEAVIEST RAIN LIKELY IN THE FOOTHILLS NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM DONIPHAN AND LAKE WAPPAPELLO DAM. WILL LIKELY SEE ADDITIONAL 2 TO LOCALLY 4 INCHES IN THOSE AREAS OVER THE NEXT 18 TO 24 HOURS. HOWEVER...DUE TO RECENT DRY CONDITIONS...6 HR FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IS STILL OVER 3 INCHES IN MOST LOCATIONS. RAIN TOTALS THROUGH THU EVENING CUT OFF DRASTICALLY EAST OF A CARBONDALE MO TO HICKMAN KY LINE...THO SOME AREAS OF WRN KY/SE IL/SW IN WILL PICK UP 1/4 TO 1/2 INCH AMOUNTS IN SCATTERED CONVECTION AS THE SURFACE FRONT PASSES THROUGH THU. SECONDLY...THERE MAY BE A VERY LIMITED SEVERE POTENTIAL OF ROTATING STORMS WITH LOCALLY SEVERE GUSTY WINDS AND EVEN AN ISOLATED TORNADO AS CONVECTIVE BANDS ROTATE AROUND GUSTAVS CIRCULATION AHEAD OF AN ADVANCING COLD FRONT LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN AGAIN THU. WE STILL THINK THAT THE COMBINATION OF WET GROUND AND EXPECTED GUSTY WINDS WITH THE DEPARTING SYSTEM ON THURSDAY WILL LEAD TO SOME MINOR WIND DAMAGE...EVEN IF THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WINDS REMAIN BELOW SEVERE CRITERIA LEVELS. OTHERWISE...THE MAIN RAIN EVENT SHOULD EXIT TO THE EAST OF THE AREA BY FRIDAY NIGHT...LEAVING DRY CONDITIONS IN PLACE FOR THE WEEKEND. A WEIGHTING OF 30 PERCENT ECMWF/30 PERCENT GFS/20 PERCENT NAM GUIDANCE WAS USED IN THE ADJUSTMENT TO POP/WEATHER THROUGH FRIDAY WITH THIS PACKAGE. A BLEND OF GRIDDED GFS MOS/NAM GUIDANCE WAS USED FOR DEWPOINTS...WITH AN EMPHASIS TOWARD THE NAM FOR THE WIND/INSTABILITY FIELDS IN THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. VERY LITTLE ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE TO THIS FORECAST PACKAGE BEYOND FRIDAY NIGHT. STILL LOOKS LIKE NEXT PRECIP CHANCE WILL COME WITH A FRONTAL PASSAGE EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .AVIATION... THE REMNANTS OF T.D. GUSTAV WILL CONTINUE TO IMPACT WRN PARTS OF THE PAH FCST AREA THROUGH THU. MEANWHILE...THIS AFTN IFR VSBYS ARE POSSIBLE WEST OF THE MS RIVER AS A RAIN BAND EXPANDS THE PCPN EWD. TS IS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION BUT SHOULD BE VERY ISOLD. THE CENTER OF CIRCULATION IS PROGGED TO BE ON THE WRN FRINGES OF THE AREA BY SUNRISE THU. THIS SHOULD AFFECT MAINLY THE WRN HALF OF THE REGION THE MOST THROUGH 24 HRS WITH LOW CIGS/VSBYS PLUS ELEVATED SFC WIND SPEEDS. .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC....MEFFERT AVIATION...DB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 455 AM CDT WED SEP 3 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-041000- 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 WED SEP 3 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT...A LITTLE MORE ISOLATED OVER THE PENNYRILE REGION OF WEST KENTUCKY. THE PRIMARY HAZARD WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...WEST OF A LINE FROM NEW MADRID AND CAPE GIRARDEAU MISSOURI TO AVA ILLINOIS. A SECONDARY...BUT NOTEWORTHY HAZARD THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED...BRIEF TORNADO DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. THE AREA OF GREATEST CONCERN WILL BE AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT...STRETCHING FROM PERRYVILLE AND DEXTER MISSOURI...EAST TO PINCKNEYVILLE AND ANNA ILLINOIS. ANY TORNADIC POTENTIAL SHOULD DIMINISH RAPIDLY BY DUSK. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...THEN AGAIN MONDAY AND TUESDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...ESPECIALLY DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY. THIS MAY CAUSE ISOLATED FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND POORLY DRAINED AREAS. A SECONDARY HAZARD OF LOCALLY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH MID AFTERNOON THURSDAY. ALTHOUGH MINIMAL...ISOLATED TORNADO DEVELOPMENT CANNOT BE RULED OUT DURING THE SAME TIME PERIOD ON THURSDAY...MAINLY ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AND THE PURCHASE AREA OF WEST KENTUCKY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER ANY REPORTS OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL OR MINOR FLOODING ARE ENCOURAGED...ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. SMITH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Ponding of water was reported on most roads in Mount Carmel. A few low water crossings were underwater by about two inches. Water was up to the bottoms of cars in some places, especially on the east side of town.
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, September 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: 134398.