A warm, moist, and unstable air mass, combined with daytime heating, allowed for scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop across Eastern Kentucky on June 26th. Some of the storms became severe, with large hail, along with downed trees and power lines reported.
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 JKL wrote it up.
A warm, moist, and unstable air mass, combined with daytime heating, allowed for scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop across Eastern Kentucky on June 26th. Some of the storms became severe, with large hail, along with downed trees and power lines reported.
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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 26, 1:59 PM EST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 259 PM EDT THU JUN 26 2008 .SHORT TERM.../TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/...UPDATED ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE POPPED UP OVER EAST KENTUCKY IN THE PAST HOUR. INITIAL UPDRAFTS ON THE STRONGER STORMS LOOK OKAY...HOWEVER A LACK OF ANY REAL LOW OR MID LEVEL FLOW AND MUCH WEAKER MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES EVIDENT ON THE 18Z LAPS SOUNDING HAVE KEPT STORMS VERY UNORGANIZED AND VERY SHORT LIVED. AT THIS TIME...DO NOT EXPECT ANY MORE STORMS TO GO SEVERE AND ANY STRONG CORES THAT ARE ABLE TO DEVELOP WILL DIMINISH VERY RAPIDLY. THE MAIN FOCUS FOR THE SHORT TERM WILL DEAL WITH THE STRONG UPPER LOW THAT WILL IMPACT EAST KENTUCKY OVER THE ENTIRE SHORT TERM PERIOD. MOISTURE RETURN FLOW HAS SET IN TODAY...ALLOWING TD/S TO JUMP INTO THE MID AND UPPER 60S. OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS MORE DEEP LAYER MOISTURE WILL ARRIVE. THE MOISTURE...COMBINED WITH A SERIES OF EMBEDDED H5 WAVES IN THE HIGHLY AMPLIFIED TROUGH WILL PROVIDE THE SETUP FOR GOOD CHANCES OF RAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND. TIMING OF EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE IS DIFFICULT AT THIS POINT...HOWEVER RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE FRIDAY AFTERNOON WILL HAVE GOOD CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS ...WITH A GENERAL LULL ON FRIDAY NIGHT. CHANCES PICK UP AGAIN ON MID MORNING SATURDAY...WITH THE MOST LIKELY PRECIPITATION COMING ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. 12Z GUIDANCE VALUES FOR POPS HAVE ADDED CONFIDENCE TO THE FORECAST. THE LATEST FORECAST SOUNDINGS ARE NOT AS IMPRESSIVE WITH OVERALL DEEP MOISTURE IN THE COLUMN ON SATURDAY...HOWEVER PWAT VALUES OF AROUND 1.75 INCHES WILL STILL ALLOW FOR EFFICIENT RAINFALL PRODUCERS AND A SIZABLE AMOUNT OF RAINFALL SHOULD STILL FALL. AT THIS TIME...WILL BACK OFF A LITTLE ON THE CONCERN FOR PROBLEMS WITH FLASH FLOODING...HOWEVER CANNOT RULE OUT SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING PROBLEMS...ESPECIALLY IF TRAINING OF CELLS OCCUR AND THE SAME AREAS ARE HIT BY MANY THUNDERSTORMS. THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER STILL HAS ALL OF EASTERN KENTUCKY IN A DAY 3 SLIGHT RISK. SHEAR PROFILES LOOK TO BE PRETTY UNIDIRECTIONAL...WITH SPEED SHEAR MARGINAL. HOWEVER...WITH STRONG FORCING FOR ASCENT AND PLENTY OF INSTABILITY ...A SEVERE THREAT SURELY SEEMS POSSIBLE. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE SITUATION AND MENTION THREATS IN THE HWO. AS FAR AS TEMPERATURES GO...DID NOT HAVE TO MAKE MANY CHANGES AS EVERYTHING LOOKS ON TRACK. LATEST GUIDANCE VALUES...ALONG WITH HPC SUPPORT SEEM TO AGREE WITH TEMPERATURES PRETTY WELL. AFTERNOON PACKAGE WILL BE OUT SHORTLY. .LONG TERM.../SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...UPDATED ENSEMBLES AND OPERATIONAL RUNS SREF/GFS/ECMWF/CANADIAN/NOGAPS AGREE FAIRLY WELL REGARDING THE UNUSUALLY HIGH AMPLITUDE (FOR JULY) AND POSITION OF SHORTWAVE TROUGH SWEEPING THROUGH EASTERN U.S. LATE THIS WEEKEND AND THEN BUILDING THE RIDGE AGAIN. HPC GUIDANCE WAS CONSISTENT WITH THIS IDEA AND HELD ON TO IT. MODELS HAVE BEEN SLOWING PROGRESSION OF THAT SHORTWAVE DOWN AND WE MAY BE HOLDING ONTO AND/OR EXTENDING RAIN CHANCES SUN/MON (MEX SHOWS CATEGORICAL POPS ON SUN). BY WED THE PATTERN LOOKS SIMILAR TO CURRENT CONDITIONS AND A RETURN TO HOT/HUMID IS LIKELY BY THEN. && .AVIATION.../18Z TO 18Z/ ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE AREA AND EXPECT THESE TO CONTINUE INTO EARLY EVENING BUT SHOULD NOT INCREASE COVERAGE MUCH. WILL UPDATE TAFS THIS AFTERNOON ONLY IF A CLUSTER OF STORMS APPROACHES. BELIEVE VCTS WILL SUFFICE. OTHERWISE THINK THERE IS ENOUGH RIDGE REMAINING ONCE THE HEATING IS LOST TO KEEP THUNDER FROM APPROACHING WITH THE SHORTWAVE FROM IL LATE TONIGHT. && .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...SCHOETTMER LONG TERM...GV AVIATION...GV
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 359 PM EDT THU JUN 26 2008 KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-271100- FLEMING-MONTGOMERY-BATH-ROWAN-ESTILL-POWELL-MENIFEE-ROCKCASTLE- JACKSON-PULASKI-LAUREL-WAYNE-MCCREARY-WHITLEY-KNOX-BELL-HARLAN- ELLIOTT-MORGAN-JOHNSON-WOLFE-MAGOFFIN-FLOYD-LEE-BREATHITT-KNOTT- OWSLEY-PERRY-CLAY-LESLIE-LETCHER-MARTIN-PIKE- 359 PM EDT THU JUN 26 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TONIGHT. THE MAIN THREATS WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...SMALL HAIL...AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...WITH THE BEST CHANCE OCCURRING FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT CROSSES THE AREA. SOME OF THE STORMS ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT COULD BE STRONG...CONTAINING GUSTY WINDS...AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT COULD CONTAIN VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...POSSIBLY LEADING TO ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ON SATURDAY. GEOGERIAN/SCHOETTMER
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 346 PM EDT THU JUN 26 2008 KYZ044-262015- FLEMING- 346 PM EDT THU JUN 26 2008 ...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM TO AFFECT NORTHERN FLEMING COUNTY THROUGH 415 PM EDT THURSDAY AFTERNOON... AT 346 PM EDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR FLEMINGSBURG...MOVING EAST AT 26 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE NEAR MOUNT CARMEL AROUND 355 PM EDT...FOXPORT AROUND 400 PM EDT... RESIDENTS SHOULD EXPECT HEAVY RAIN...WITH RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO ONE HALF INCH PER HOUR...GUSTY WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND SMALL HAIL IN THESE AREAS. DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER THEN LIGHTNING IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE A HAZARD. DUSTY
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:02 UTC.
8 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Several tree limbs the size of a persons wrist were blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts.
A one foot diameter tree was blown down and onto a house. A 2 foot diameter tree was blown down and across Osborne Fork Road. Nickel size hail also occurred at this location.
A tree was blown down on Highway 15. Numerous large limbs were also blown down.
Numerous trees were blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts.
Several trees were blown down onto Highway 197, blocking the roadway.
A power line was taken down by thunderstorm wind gusts on Highway 460 at the junction of Highway 1460.
Powerlines were blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts and were on fire on Highway 610.
A tree was blown down and across Highway 195 at Edgewater.
A powerline was blown onto a mobile home on South River Road at Clevinger Road.
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, June 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: 108935, 108936, 108937, 108940, 108941, 108942, 108943, 108944, 108945.