Scattered thunderstorms occurred ahead of a cold front as it crossed into western Kentucky.
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.
Scattered thunderstorms occurred ahead of a cold front as it crossed into western Kentucky.
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 Oct 1, 10:59 PM CST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1158PM CDT THU OCT 1 2009 .UPDATE... UPDATED AVIATION SECTION FOR 06Z TAF ISSUANCE. DISCUSSION SECTION IS UNCHANGED FROM PREVIOUS ISSUANCE. && .DISCUSSION... CURRENT RADARS SHOWED LINGERING WAA PCPN MOVING EWD AWAY FROM THE PAH FCST AREA. ON SATELLITE...CLOUDINESS WAS TEMPORARILY BREAKING UP A BIT. HOWEVER...OUT IN WRN MO A COLD FRONT WAS EVIDENT...MARKED BY A LINE OF EWD MOVING SFC BASED STRONG TO SVR TSTMS. THIS WAS OCCURRING WHERE SFC DEWPOINTS WERE AROUND 70. IN OUR AREA...DEWPOINTS SHOULD NOT GET ABOVE THE LOWER 60S. 0-3KM HELICITIES IN EXCESS OF 300 M2/S2 ARE SHOWING UP IN MODEL DATA FOR MAINLY THE LATE AFTN IN PARTS OF SERN MO. THE WINDS BELOW 850 WILL TEND TO GO MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL IN THE EVE AS THE SHWRS/TSTMS RUSH THROUGH THE REGION WEST TO EAST... MAKING THE MAIN HAZARD TSTM WINDS IN ADDITION TO BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. ONE OF THE MAIN LIMITING FACTORS THIS AFTN/EVE WILL BE LACK OF INSTABILITY. NOT TO SAY THAT THUNDER WILL NOT OCCUR. SPC CONTINUES THE SLIGHT RISK OF SVR UP TO THE MS RIVER. BY 06Z THE COLD FRONT SHOULD BISECT THE REGION AND PCPN IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY END AFTER ITS PASSAGE. DURING THE WEE HOURS OVERNIGHT...THE ATMOSPHERE SHOULD BE STABLE ENOUGH TO LIMIT COVERAGE OF TSTMS SOMEWHAT IN THE EAST...AND THE SVR POTENTIAL WILL HAVE DIMINISHED. ALL BUT PERHAPS THE SERN EXTREME CORNER OF THE REGION /TODD COUNTY/ WILL STILL HAVE SHWRS AT 12Z. INTO THE FIRST PART OF THE WEEKEND...A LARGE MID/UPPER LOW WILL CHURN ACROSS THE NRN TIER OF STATES WHILE A DRY COOL AIR MASS MOVES IN BEHIND THE FRONT ON BRISK WSWRLY WINDS. WITH CYCLONIC MID LEVEL FLOW...SAT WILL BE THE COOLEST BELOW NORMAL DAY. A WARMING TREND WILL COMMENCE AFTER THAT AS THE MID/UPPER PATTERN BECOMES ZONAL...THEN WSWRLY. INTO NEXT WEEK...A WET WARM ADVECTION PATTERN WILL CONTINUE...AND A LOW PRESSURE TROF SITTING IN THE WRN CONUS. GFS/ECMWF SOLUTIONS HAVE TENDED TO DIVERGE AFTER THE MON TIME FRAME BUT THE LATEST RUNS SEEM TO HAVE COME TOGETHER A LITTLE BETTER ATTM. THE GENERAL SCENARIO IS A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SEWD THROUGH THE REGION SOMETIME MID WEEK...HOWEVER IT COULD STALL FOR A WHILE WITH PLENTY OF AVAILABLE GULF MOISTURE TO THE SOUTH. THERE IS A DECENT CHC THAT IT WILL RAIN SOMETIME NEXT WEEK FOR SURE. BEST POP SHOULD BE AROUND TUE. FOR THE EXTENDED...THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD HPC GRIDS WERE USED FAIRLY HEAVILY. && .AVIATION... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE EXITING EAST OF THE AREA OVER THE NEXT 3 HOURS. WILL LEAVE A MENTION OF THUNDER AT KOWB. COULD SEE A BRIEF MVFR CEILING RIGHT AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT IN THE WAKE OF THE CONVECTION. STILL LOOKS LIKE MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES BY MORNING OVER MOST OF THE AREA. THE MAIN STORY FOR FRIDAY WILL BE STRONG WEST OR WEST SOUTHWEST WINDS. DEEP MIXING...POSSIBLY UP TO 9KFT...MAY BRING DOWN WINDS 30 MPH OR MORE DURING THE AFTERNOON...SO HAVE HIT GUSTS PRETTY HARD AT ALL TAF SITES. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC...DB AVIATION...DRS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1202 AM CDT FRI OCT 2 2009 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-021000- 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- 1202 AM CDT FRI OCT 2 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL COME TO AN END FROM WEST TO EAST AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES. NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED...BUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN REMAINS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY ANOTHER CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS FORECAST NEXT MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike caused considerable damage at the Oak Grove City Hall. Computer equipment used by the police department and city workers was damaged. Lightning struck the communications antenna on the side of the building. The main radio terminal used by emergency dispatchers was destroyed.
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, October 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: 199089.