An occluding surface low over southwest Iowa moved northeast into southeast Minnesota. A trailing cold front pushed eastward through the Mid-Mississippi Valley.
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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.
An occluding surface low over southwest Iowa moved northeast into southeast Minnesota. A trailing cold front pushed eastward through the Mid-Mississippi Valley. A complex of thunderstorms during the morning produced heavy rain and locally gusty winds.
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 2, 2:38 AM CST, 5 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 338 AM CDT FRI MAY 2 2008 .DISCUSSION... IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS...DOPPLER RADARS INDICATED THE RESULT OF SUBTLE LIFT ACROSS THE PAH FCST AREA...SCT VERY LIGHT SHWRS. A SQUALL LINE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A COLD FRONT IN EXTREME WRN MO. THE BIG EVENT WILL GET STARTED TODAY AS A VIGOROUS MID LEVEL CLOSED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ROTATES TOWARD THE GREAT LAKES. A LOBE OF ENERGY WITHIN THE LOW IS SHOWN BY THE MODELS TO SWING AROUND ITS EAST SIDE TODAY. THIS WILL HELP TO SUSTAIN A FAST NNEWD MOVING SFC LOW AND ITS ATTENDANT COLD FRONT. THE FRONT WILL STEADILY APPROACH THE PAH FCST AREA DURING THE MORNING HOURS. BASED ON CONVECTION OCCURRING TO OUR WEST...SOME TSTMS MAY MAKE IT INTO SERN MO SHORTLY AFTER 12Z. IN ADDITION...60 PLUS DEWPOINTS WILL COMBINE WITH A 60 PLUS KT LLJ TO PROVIDE MODERATE INSTABILITY OVER OUR REGION FOR THE AFTN AND INTO THE EVE. BEST FORECAST LOW LEVEL HELICITY APPEARS TO BE OVER SERN MO EARLY... THEN THE LOW LEVEL BULK SHEAR WILL BECOME A BIT MORE LINEAR LATE. THIS MEANS SCATTERED SUPERCELLS THAT MAY DEVELOP IN THIS ENVIRONMENT WOULD BE SOMEWHAT MORE LIKELY TO PRODUCE TORNADOES IN THE AFTN IN THE WEST...VS. THE EARLY EVENING WHERE DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT FARTHER EAST. THE COLD FRONT...WHICH SHOULD BE ENTERING THE MO OZARKS AROUND 00Z... WILL BE THE FORCING MECHANISM FOR A SQUALL LINE JUST AHEAD OF IT. THE THREAT OF SVR WX WILL CONTINUE EWD WELL INTO THE EVE...AND POSSIBLY PAST MIDNIGHT DESPITE A SLOWLY STABILIZING ATMOSPHERE. EXCEPT FOR THE FAR ERN PART OF THE PAH FCST AREA...ALL SHWR ACTIVITY SHOULD BE OUT OF THE REGION BY 12Z SAT. DURING THE AFTN...WE HELD A SLIGHT CHC OF A SHWR FOR THE AFTN IN THE NERN CORNER...INDUCED BY CYCLONIC MID LEVEL ENERGY ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEPARTING LOW. A BROAD SFC HIGH PRESSURE AREA WILL REPLACE THE CURRENT WARM REGIME FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE WEEK...WITH SOMEWHAT COOLER TEMPS AND LIGHT WINDS. LATER IN THE WEEK...ECMWF/GFS DO NOT AGREE TOO WELL ON THE LOCATION/TIMING OF A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM...BUT IT APPEARS SHWRS MAY OCCUR EARLIER...AND TSTMS MAY OCCUR LATER IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK UNDER WARM MOIST ADVECTION. VIRTUALLY NO CHANGES WERE MADE BEYOND DAY 4. && .AVIATION... LOW VFR CIGS WILL YIELD TO MVFR CIGS AMIDST THICKENING/LOWERING CLOUD BASES THIS MORNING. THIS WILL LEAD TO SCATTERED SHOWER ACTIVITY BY MID MORNING WITH CONVECTION POSSIBLE BY LATE MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON. LATER IN THE DAY AND ESP INTO THE EVENING...A COLD FRONT APPROACHES...AND WITH IT THE CHANCE FOR STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS. TEMPORARY IFR CIGS AND/OR VSBYS COULD BE PRODUCED IN A STRONG THUNDERSTORM UNTIL THE FRONT PASSES LATE IN THE EVENING... AFTER WHICH SKIES WILL CLEAR AND OVERALL CIGS/VSBYS IMPROVE TO VFR. PREVAILING WINDS WILL BE SLY WITH GUSTS WELL THRU THE 20S... THOUGH A STORM COULD YIELD HIGHER GUSTS...UNTIL THE FRONT PASSES AND WINDS GO SWLY-WLY AND DIMINISH. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && LONG TERM....DB AVIATION...DH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 825 AM CDT FRI MAY 2 2008 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-031030- 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- 825 AM CDT FRI MAY 2 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 RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE QUAD STATE REGION. THE PRIMARY HAZARDS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...WITH TORNADOES POSSIBLE AS WELL. AN INITIAL LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL PASS THROUGH THE REGION THIS MORNING. ALTHOUGH THESE STORMS HAVE BEEN WEAKENING...SOME OF THE STRONGEST STORMS MAY BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WINDS AND HAIL. IN ADDITION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORMING OUT AHEAD OF THIS SQUALL LINE...AND WHILE MOST OF THESE STORMS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS...WE COULD SEE AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM. AFTER THIS LINE OF STORMS PASSES ON THROUGH THE AREA...THERE IS SOME QUESTION ON HOW MUCH OF A SEVERE THREAT THERE WILL BE THIS AFTERNOON. IF CLOUDS CLEAR OUT BEHIND THIS LINE OF STORMS AND ENOUGH INSTABILITY DEVELOPS...WE COULD HAVE ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY TODAY.
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:02 UTC.
4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A few trees were blown down near the communities of Patton and Glen Allen.
Street flooding occurred in Doniphan. Some county creeks were out of their banks.
Street flooding was reported in Scott City and along U.S. Highway 61.
Water was over Township Line Road.
Water was reported over Highway P.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, 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: 93148, 93149, 93151, 93153, 93155, 93156.