Temperatures during the January 27 ice storm were warm enough over the Green River basin to allow for rapid runoff. The Green River rose above flood stage at Paradise on January 29 and continued rising into early February.
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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.
Temperatures during the January 27 ice storm were warm enough over the Green River basin to allow for rapid runoff. The Green River rose above flood stage at Paradise on January 29 and continued rising into early February.
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 31, 11:29 PM CST, 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 1129 PM CST SAT JAN 31 2009 ...UPDATE TO AVIATION... .DISCUSSION... SYNOPSIS...12Z UPPPER AIR ANALYSIS INDICATED SHORTWAVE RIDGE ACROSS THE MID MS RIVER VALLEY. HEIGHT FALLS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR NEXT WEATHER SYSTEM WERE NOTED OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES WITH A 180 M H5 HEIGHT FALL IN KTFX. THIS WAS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH A STRONG H25 JET OF 120 KT OVER SOUTHERN CANADA. 20Z SFC ANALYSIS INDICATED THE RIDGE AXIS FROM CENTRAL TN INTO MS/AL. WINDS WERE INCREASING OVER MO AS LOW PRESSURE DEEPENED OVR NRN MN. FORECAST...FAIRLY QUIET FORECAST THROUGH THE PERIOD FOR THE REGION. AS BEST PRESSURE GRADIENT SHIFTS SWD THIS EVNG WE SHLD SEE THE WINDS INCREASE OVERNIGHT...BUT ONLY INTO THE 10 TO 15 MPH RANGE. SOME CONCERN FOR AREAS WHERE THE FOG/CLOUDS HELD ON LONGER THRU THE DAY TODAY. IN THIS AREA THE BOUNDARY LAYER DID NOT MIX OUT THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...AND WE COULD SEE SOME PATCHY FOG BY LATE EVNG WITH CLR SKIES AND A QUICK DECOUPLING BEFORE THE WINDS INCREASED LATER. THIS WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED BY THE EVNING SHIFT AND WENT WITH NO FOG IN THE FORECAST ATTM. SURFACE COLD FRONT NOW OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS MAKES A TRACK THROUGH THE MID MS REGION ON SUN AND SHOULD BE ABOUT HALF WAY THRU THE CWA BY EARLY AFTN AND CLEAR THE SOUTH BY EVENING. BEST PRESSURE GRADIENT SHLD SHIFT S OF THE FA DURING THE DAY ON SUN WHICH SHOULD KEEP THE STRONGEST WINDS TO OUR S. NAM SEEMED TO BE HANDLING THE EFFECTS OF THE SN/ICE ACRS THE REGION BETTER AND RELIED MORE ON NAM MOS FOR HIGHS ON SUN WHICH RESULTS IN A DECREASE IN HIGHS FM PADUCAH TO MADISONVILLE AND EVANSVILLE. LO LVL RH PROGS INDC AN INCREASE IN MOISTURE THRU THE AFTN AND WE SHLD SEE A STRATUS DECK ADVECT INTO THE SRN CWA BY LATE AFTN. POINT FORECAST SOUNDINGS THRU THE EVNG REMAIN FAIRLY DRY ALOFT AND FORCING IS FAIRLY WEAK AS CURRENT NRN PLAINS SHRTWV SLIDES SEWD THRU THE REGION. THUS HAVE REDUCED POPS AND LIMITED TO FAR SERN FA. THICKNESS AND SOUNDINGS INDC A MIX OF PRECIP WLD OCCUR IF ANYTHING DOES FALL AND THUS KEPT A RA/SN MIX GOING. THE NAM/GFS DIFF FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK AS TO THE DVLPMENT OF THE ERN US TROF. WL FOLLOW THE GFS WITH SUPPORT FM THE EC HERE WHERE THE MODELS INDC A SECOND SHORTWAVE TROF TO SWING THRU THE REGION ON TUES. THIS MAY ALLOW FOR A FEW FLURRIES OVER THE ERN CWA ASSOCIATED WITH THE STG CAA ON MON AFTN/EVNG...BUT AGAIN SIG PRECIP IS NOT EXPECTED. PATTERN THEN BEGINS TO CHANGE LATER IN THE WEEK AS ERN US TROF STARTS TO SHIFT EWD AND HEIGHTS BEGIN TO INCREASE. THIS SHLD ALLOW FOR A DECENT WARM UP WITH TMPS INTO THE 50S BY LATE IN THE WEEK. DEEPER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW IS INDICATED AS WE GET INTO EARLY NEXT WEEKEND WHICH MAY START TO ALLOW SOME GULF MOISTURE TO GET PULLED NWD INTO THE REGION...BUT ATTM WILL CONTINUE WITH A DRY FORECAST. IF TREND CONTINUES SIMILAR TO THE GFS...SHOWERS MAY BE POSSIBLE NEXT WEEKEND. BOUSTEAD && .AVIATION... FOR THE 06Z TAFS...TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN SLOW TO DROP OFF TONIGHT...IF AT ALL...WITH TIGHT SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT AND WARM SOUTHERLY FLOW. PERSISTANT WINDS SHOULD KEEP BOUNDARY LAYER MIXY...MITIGATING POTENTIAL FOR BR THIS MORNING. TROF MOVES THROUGH DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON. GFS AND NAM CONTINUE TO DEPICT BRIEF SHALLOW SATURATED LAYER 2KFT-3KFT WITH THE FROPA...ALTHOUGH A BIT FURTHER EAST THAN PREVIOUS GUIDANCE. WILL LEAVE VFR FOR NOW AND CONTINUE TO MONITOR. LUNDE && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 334 PM CST SAT JAN 31 2009 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-012145- 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- 334 PM CST SAT JAN 31 2009 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...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT. BOUSTEAD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding of the Green River continued from late January. At the Paradise gage, the river crested at 387.40 feet on the 2nd. Flood stage there is 380 feet. Minor flooding of low-lying fields and wooded areas occurred near the river.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, February 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: 154671.