Several cold fronts passed across the region in late May, helping to touch off scattered thunderstorms. A few of these storms were nearly stationary and caused heavy rainfall.
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.
Several cold fronts passed across the region in late May, helping to touch off scattered thunderstorms. A few of these storms were nearly stationary and caused heavy rainfall. Heavy rain in the upper portions of the Mississippi River basin contributed to the flooding downriver. Flooding along the Big Muddy River was mainly due to backwater from the flooded Mississippi.
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 16, 6:45 AM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 745 AM CDT SUN MAY 16 2010 .UPDATE... UPDATED AVN DISCUSSION. NO UPDATE TO PUBLIC DISCUSSION. && .DISCUSSION... MAIN CONCERNS CONTINUE TO BE POPS THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST. THE PRIMARY CHANGE FROM YESTERDAY IS THAT THE MODELS KEEP THE SURFACE FRONT AND ANY LOWS THAT FORM ALONG IT TO OUR SOUTH. SO PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL BE TIED TO RELATIVELY SMALL SCALE MID-LEVEL IMPULSES. AT 830Z...ONE MID-LEVEL DISTURBANCE WAS LOCATED JUST EAST OF MEMPHIS...WHILE ANOTHER ONE WAS MOVING THROUGH THE ST LOUIS AREA. THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO DISTURBANCES WILL GET MUCH OF THE AREA WET THIS MORNING. THE SOUTHERN ONE IS ALREADY SPEWING WIDESPREAD RAIN/SHOWERS AND AN EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORM OR TWO OVER WEST KENTUCKY AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA. AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES SLOWLY TO THE NORTHEAST...SHOULD SEE THIS CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY CONTINUE IN EASTERN SECTIONS BEYOND 12Z. THE NORTHERN SYSTEM WILL MOVE A BIT MORE EASTWARD...AND WILL SPAWN SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND POSSIBLY AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. A PORTION OF FAR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...THE SOUTHERN TIP OF ILLINOIS AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER COUNTIES OF WEST KENTUCKY MAY STAY COMPLETELY DRY THIS MORNING...AS THEY FALL IN BETWEEN THE TWO SYSTEMS. AS THINGS BEGIN TO DRY OUT OVER MUCH OF THE AREA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...A DISTURBANCE...CURRENTLY GENERATING CONVECTION OVER EASTERN OKLAHOMA...WILL BEGIN TO SPREAD CONVECTION INTO WESTERN ZONES LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THIS SHOULD SPREAD OVER MUCH OF THE FOUR STATE AREA TONIGHT. THE OTHER CHANGE IN THE MODELS FROM YESTERDAY...IS THAT CONSIDERABLE QPF ATTENDANT TO THE PRIMARY MID/UPPER LEVEL LOW/TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING. RAISED POPS FOR MONDAY CONSIDERABLY. NOW HAVE LIKELY POPS IN ALL BUT FAR WESTERN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. MADE NO CHANGES BEYOND TUESDAY NIGHT...BUT THE 12Z AND 00Z ECMWF HAVE COME INTO LINE WITH 00Z GFS IN PUSHING NEXT STORM SYSTEM INTO THE AREA THURSDAY OR THURSDAY NIGHT AND OUT OF THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT OR SATURDAY. THE FORECAST IS CURRENTLY DRY...BUT MODEL AGREEMENT AND INTERNAL CONSISTENCY SUPPORT ADDING SOME POPS LATE THIS WEEK. TEMPERATURES WILL BE QUITE COOL THROUGH TUESDAY...WITH A MODEST WARM UP FOR THE LAST HALF OF THE WEEK. GENERALLY TRIED TO STAY WITHIN RANGE OF AVAILABLE GUIDANCE. && .AVIATION... AN AREA OF RAIN WILL EVENTUALLY ROTATE EWD AND OUT OF WRN KY/SWRN IND THIS MRNG...WHILE ISOLD SHWRS WILL CONTINUE MAINLY IN SRN IL. AHEAD OF A MID LEVEL WAVE...THERE WILL BE A LULL IN THE PCPN DURING THE DAY BUT SOME MODEL DATA INDICATE THAT AT LEAST MVFR CIGS ARE QUITE LIKELY DURING THAT INTERVAL. IN THE EVE...THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER ROUND OF SHWRS AND TSTMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MID LEVEL WAVE...REDUCING VSBYS AT TIMES TO AT LEAST MVFR IN RAIN AND FOG. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC.....DRS AVIATION...DB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 433 AM CDT SUN MAY 16 2010 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-171000- 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- 433 AM CDT SUN MAY 16 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS FORECAST THROUGHOUT THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LEVELS...BUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE A CONCERN. FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON A FEW AREA RIVERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A SMALL CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS FORECAST THROUGHOUT THE REGION MONDAY. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LEVELS...BUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE A CONCERN. FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON A FEW AREA RIVERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. DRS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Moderate flooding occurred along the Mississippi River around Thebes. The communities of Thebes and Gale experienced some flooding of low-lying areas. The flooding mostly affected agricultural bottomlands and woodlands.
Minor flooding occurred along the Big Muddy River in the Murphysboro area. Bottomland fields were flooded.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2010
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: 228608, 228609.