Continued heavy rain over the upper portions of the Mississippi River Valley caused another rise along lower parts of the Mississippi. The Mississippi River sent enough backwater into the lower Ohio River to produce minor flooding at Cairo for the third time this month.
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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.
Continued heavy rain over the upper portions of the Mississippi River Valley caused another rise along lower parts of the Mississippi. The Mississippi River sent enough backwater into the lower Ohio River to produce minor flooding at Cairo for the third time this month. The primary impact was to delay spring planting of crops.
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 Apr 21, 6:05 PM CST, 6 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 705 PM CDT TUE APR 21 2009 .UPDATED... UPDATED AVIATION SECTION FOR 00Z TAF ISSUANCE. ALSO LET RED FLAG WARNING EXPIRE AND CLEANED UP CODING SECTION. A FEW LOCATIONS ARE STILL FLIRTING WITH CRITERIA...BUT CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPROVE CONSIDERABLY IN THE NEXT HOUR AS THE SUN SETS. && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 157 PM CDT TUE APR 21 2009/ WILL LINGER SOME VERY SMALL CHANCE POPS ACROSS OUR FAR NORTHEAST COUNTIES THIS EVENING...PART OF SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND NORTHWEST KENTUCKY. OTHERWISE WITH A WEAK SURFACE RIDGE MOVING ACROSS THE AREA...AND WEDGE OF DRIER AIR WORKING IN FROM EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI...A DRY NIGHT IS ON TAP. LOW TEMPS ARE FORECAST TO DROP INTO THE UPPER 30S SOME LOCALES. BUT DUE TO THE WEAK RIDGE...AND FORECAST TEMP-DEW POINT SPREAD...AND LIGHT BREEZE AT TIMES...WILL NOT MENTION PATCHY FROST. CLOUDS MAY BE AN INHIBITOR AS WELL... ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. THE EVENING SHIFT CAN MONITOR. THE DRY WEATHER SHOULD PERSIST THROUGH THE DAY WEDNESDAY...WITH A FEW CLOUDS FROM TIME TO TIME. WILL CONTINUE WITH OUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT AFTER MIDNIGHT INTO THURSDAY SLIGHT CHANCE OF CONVECTION WITH THE PASSAGE OF A WARM FRONT...AND INCREASING INSTABILITY COINCIDENT WITH ITS MOVING THROUGH. IT WILL TURN WARMER BY FRIDAY IN THE WAKE OF THE WARM FRONTAL SURGE...WITH DECREASING CLOUDS EXPECTED AS WELL. WE USED A BLEND OF GUIDANCE TONIGHT AS THE MET WAS COOLER THAN THE MAV. NUMBERS WERE CLOSE AFTER THAT...SO WE LEANED TOWARD MET. FOR THE PERIOD SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...THE PATTERN IS STILL FORECAST TO BE IN SOMEWHAT OF A HOLD...WITH AN UPPER RIDGE PERSISTING OVER THE SOUTHEAST U.S. AND TROF OUT WEST. AT THE SURFACE THE MODELS AND ENSEMBLES HOLD A STRONG SURFACE HIGH CENTER JUST OFF THE SOUTHEAST ATLANTIC COAST OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. SO THE BASIC OVERALL SCHEME HAS NOT CHANGED. WHAT IS DIFFERENT...IS THE 00Z OPERATIONAL GFS. IT IS MORE PROGRESSIVE AND A TAD FASTER WITH THE EASTWARD PUSH OF THE WEST U.S. TROF. IN CONTRAST...THE NAEFS/GEFS AND OPERATIONAL ECMWF MAINTAIN SLOWER SOLUTIONS...AND KEEP FRONT OUT OF THE AREA...AND TO OUR NORTH AND WEST. THE ENSEMBLES ARE A LITTLE FARTHER EAST WITH THEIR PROBABILITIES OF MEASURABLE. BUT THOSE PROBABILITIES ARE STILL RATHER LOW...AND THE CLUSTERS ARE STILL PRIMARILY TO OUR NORTH AND WEST. THEREFORE...DO NOT PLAN ON INTRODUCING POPS UNTIL TUESDAY. THE ECMWF IS SUGGESTIVE OFF SMALL CHANCE POPS BY THEN...WITH THE ENSEMBLES EVEN MORE SO. TEMPS ARE STILL FORECAST TO BE ABOVE NORMAL. STAYED CLOSE TO HPC/MEX NUMBERS SATURDAY... THEN SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...TENDED A LITTLE BELOW HPC...WITH THE PROSPECT FOR MORE CLOUDS. QUICK LAST LOOK AT THE 12Z GFS SHOWS A TREND BACK TOWARD THE OTHER SLOWER MODEL SOLUTIONS...AND ALSO SHOWS CHANCE POPS FOR CONVECTION TUESDAY. WE MAY END UP WITH SMALL POPS ACROSS OUR FAR NORTHWEST COUNTIES WITH TIME PRIOR TO TUESDAY...BUT FOR NOW PROBS TOO SMALL TO WARRANT A MENTION. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ONLY REAL CONCERN FOR AVIATION WILL BE GUSTY WEST SOUTHWEST WINDS IN THE NORTHEAST HALF OF THE AREA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. OCCASIONAL GUSTS 20-25 KTS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE KEVV AND KOWB AREAS. FARTHER SOUTH AND WEST...ANY GUSTS SHOULD BE UNDER 20 KTS. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 724 PM CDT TUE APR 21 2009 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-221000- 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- 724 PM CDT TUE APR 21 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. FOR THE LATEST RIVER FLOOD FORECAST INFORMATION...REFER TO OUR RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST KENTUCKY...AND AREAWIDE THURSDAY. FOR THE LATEST RIVER FLOOD FORECAST INFORMATION...REFER TO OUR RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. DRS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
At the Cairo river gage, the Ohio River crested at 40.00 feet. This was exactly at the flood stage of 40 feet. Minor flooding occurred, affecting low-lying bottomland fields.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, April 2009
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: 160098.