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 flooding downriver.
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 15, 1:00 PM CST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 200 PM CDT SAT MAY 15 2010 .DISCUSSION... THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE WITH THIS PACKAGE WILL BE POPS...COVERAGE... AND QPF WITH A WEATHER SYSTEM AFFECTING THE REGION THROUGH MONDAY. AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING A NE-SW STATIONARY FRONT LAY ACROSS WESTERN KENTUCKY...CENTRAL ARKANSAS...INTO CENTRAL OKLAHOMA. IN THE MEANTIME A SURFACE LOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS IN RESPONSE TO AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING EAST OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS. MODELS SIMILAR IN LIFTING THE AFOREMENTIONED SFC ALONG THE STATIONARY BOUNDARY LOW TO NEAR THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL BY 12Z SUNDAY. THIS SHOULD PLACE THE MAIN FOCUS OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE SOUTHEAST SECTIONS OF THE CWA TONIGHT AND OVER THE ENTIRE AREA ON SUNDAY AS THE BOUNDARY IS LIFTED ACROSS THE REGION. SUNDAY NIGHT POPS WILL STILL BE RATHER HIGH BUT WILL BEGIN TO TAPER OFF FROM EAST TO WEST AS THE SYSTEM SLOWLY MOVES EASTWARD. WRAP AROUND MOISTURE/PRECIP WILL CONTINUE OVER MUCH OF THE REGION ON MONDAY...THEN LINGERING ONLY OVER THE NORTHEAST SECTIONS MONDAY NIGHT. THROUGH THURSDAY MODELS KEEP OUR REGION BETWEEN THE AFOREMENTIONED SYSTEM JUST TO THE EAST AND A DEVELOPING SYSTEM OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL PLAINS...SO WE SHOULD REMAIN DRY WITH MODERATING TEMPERATURES DURING THAT PERIOD. THROUGH SATURDAY THE GFS TRIES TO BRING BITS AND PIECES OF THE PLAINS SYSTEM INTO OUR AREA INCLUDING LIGHT AMOUNTS OF QPF...BUT THE ECMWF KEEPS THE SYSTEM SOUTH OF OUR REGION THROUGH THE PERIOD. THEREFORE...LIKE THE MAJORITY OF MY NEIGHBORS...DECIDED TO KEEP IT DRY BUT WITH 14 POPS UNTIL WE GET A MORE CONSISTEMT SIGNAL. && .AVIATION... LOW VFR TO MVFR CIGS WILL PERSIST THIS EVENING. SHOWERS AND A FEW STORMS WILL BE SCATTERED ACROSS THE THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON...BUT THE AREAL COVERAGE DOES NOT WARRANT A PREVAILING TSRA/SHRA IN THE TAFS. OVERNIGHT TONIGHT...CIGS WILL BEGIN TO LOWER TO THE LOWER END OF THE MVFR RANGE WITH VISIBILITIES GOING DOWN INTO THE MVFR RANGE AS WELL. KEPT VCSH IN TAFS OVERNIGHT...WITH A BETTER CHANCE AFTER MIDNIGHT ESPECIALLY AT KPAH. WINDS WILL CONTINUE FROM THE NORTHEAST AT 10 KTS OR LESS. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && RST/JAP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK ...CORRECTED TYPO IN ACTIVATION SECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 445 AM CDT SAT MAY 15 2010 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-161000- 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- 445 AM CDT SAT MAY 15 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIFT NORTH NORTHEAST THROUGH SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS THIS MORNING. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL CAN BE EXPECTED...BUT THE STORMS SHOULD STAY WELL BELOW SEVERE LIMITS THIS MORNING. FOR THIS AFTERNOON...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGHOUT THE QUAD STATE AREA. A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY BRIEFLY BECOME SEVERE OVER WEST KENTUCKY AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL THE PRIMARY CONCERNS. FLOODING WILL PERSIST ALONG A FEW AREA RIVERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE AREA SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. THE STORMS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS...BUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BECOME AN ISSUE IN AREAS WHERE MULTIPLE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR. THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS LINGERING PAST DAYBREAK MONDAY IN THE EASTERN HALF OF THE AREA. ANY THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY MORNING SHOULD BE WELL BELOW SEVERE LIMITS. FLOODING WILL PERSIST ALONG A FEW AREA RIVERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS SHOULD REPORT ANY HEAVY RAIN OR RESULTANT FLOODING PROBLEMS THIS MORNING. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON OVER WEST KENTUCKY AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 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 at Cape Girardeau. The flood gates on Broadway and on Themis Street were closed. Agricultural bottomlands were flooded. River access roads and parks were closed and flooded.
Moderate flooding of the Mississippi River occurred. Highway A was closed between County Roads 460 and 447. Bottomland fields and woods were inundated.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, 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: 228614, 229870.