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 Green 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 11, 1:38 PM CST, 4 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 138 PM CST FRI JAN 11 2008 .DISCUSSION... IN THE SHORT TERM...FROM TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...THE MAIN CHALLENGE WILL BE PRECIP POTENTIAL LATE SATURDAY INTO EARLY SUNDAY... AS WELL AS CLOUDS AND TEMPS. EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...A BROAD TROF WAS ACROSS THE CONUS. REGIONAL SATELLITE SHOWED STRATO-CU LINGERING EAST OF A KMVN-KHOP LINE. ONLY SOME CIRRUS WEST OF THERE. THE LOWER CLOUDS SHOULD CONTINUE TO PUSH OUT OF THE REGION...WITH ONLY A FEW HIGH CLOUDS MOST OF THE NIGHT. H4 CIRCULATION SEEN ON WVAPOR OVER THE WRN DAKOTAS. THIS FEATURE IS FORECAST TO DROP SE AND DEEPEN SOMEWHAT OVER THE NEXT 30 HRS. THE MODELS TRY AND DEVELOP SOME LIGHT PRECIPITATION TO OUR WEST SATURDAY. THINK MOST OF IT WILL STAY OUT OF OUR AREA THROUGH THE DAY. IT APPEARS THAT THE BEST CHANCE WILL BE LATE AFTERNOON...ACROSS SE MISSOURI. WILL LIMIT POPS TO THIS AREA. SATURDAY NIGHT...WILL CARRY CHANCE POPS FOR R- AS THE UPPER SYSTEM AND DEEP LAYER MOISTURE MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. MODEL SOUNDINGS SUGGEST ALL RAIN...THOUGH IT SHOULD BE CLOSE. WITH THE DEEP LAYER MOISTURE MOSTLY EAST OF THE FA BY 12Z SUNDAY...THINK DRIZZLE MOST LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT / PERHAPS POCKETS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE IF IT FALLS BELOW 32F. CANNOT RULE OUT SOME S- EAST SUNDAY MORNING...BUT THE CHANCE LOOKS PRETTY MINIMAL AS THE MID LEVELS DRY. SUNDAY AFTERNOON SHOULD BE DRY...WITH TRANQUIL WEATHER CONTINUING INTO SUNDAY NIGHT AS WELL. GENERALLY USED A BLEND OF FWC/MAV/MET THROUGH THE FIRST 60 HOURS...AS ALL 3 WERE FAIRLY CLOSE. THE LONG TERM PORTION OF THE FORECAST FROM DAYS 3-7 (MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY) WILL BE BASED LARGELY ON THE 06/12Z RUNS OF THE OPS GFS BLENDED WITH THE 00Z ECMWF. THE 00Z GFS APPEARED TO BE TOO FAST WITH THE MID WEEK SYSTEM...WHEREAS THE 06/12Z RUNS OF THE GFS HAVE SLOWED DOWN TO A SPEED MORE SIMILAR TO THE PAST 2 OR 3 RUNS OF THE ECMWF. TRANSLATING THESE TRENDS TO THE FORECAST...WILL CONTINUE WITH OUR VERY SLIM CHANCE OF SOME NON-CONSEQUENTIAL R-/S- MONDAY. EXPECT DRY CONDITIONS FROM MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT WITH WEAK HIGH PRESSURE IN CONTROL. WEDNESDAY...WILL CARRY AN INCREASING CHANCE POP FROM THE WEST...AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING FRONT. FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST BORDERLINE CONDITIONS...AND PERHAPS A POTENTIAL FOR DIABATIC COOLING. THUS WILL CARRY LOW POPS FOR MIXED WINTRY PRECIPITATION. WILL CONTINUE WITH LOW POPS WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE FRONT AND LINGERING MOISTURE MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. AGAIN...FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST MAINTAINING A WINTRY MIX OR ALL LIGHT SNOW THROUGH THE PERIOD. OVERALL CONFIDENCE IN HOW THINGS WILL PLAY OUT WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT IS STILL LOW AT THIS TIME. TEMPS ARE EXPECTED TO BE NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL. USED A BLEND OF GFS ENSEMBLE MOS AND HPC GUIDANCE FOR THE EXTENDED NUMBERS. && .AVIATION... BORDERLINE VFR/MVFR CIGS NEAR 3K FT AT KEVV AND KOWB SHOULD IMPROVE THIS AFTERNOON AS THE STRATO-CU MOVES EAST OF THE AREA. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING...WITH ONLY SOME HIGH CLOUDS TONIGHT AND PERHAPS MID CLOUDS TOMORROW. WINDS WILL BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE TONIGHT...THEN SOUTH 4-8KTS SATURDAY MORNING. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 141 PM CST FRI JAN 11 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-121100- 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- 141 PM CST FRI JAN 11 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding of the Green River occurred. At the Paradise gage, where flood stage is 380 feet, the river crested at 381.72 feet on the 12th. Minor flooding of bottomland fields occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, 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: 72496.