The mean atmospheric flow became southwest ahead of a storm system that passed east across the mid-Mississippi Valley. The southwest flow allowed abundant moisture to stream across the region directly from the Pacific Ocean.
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.
The mean atmospheric flow became southwest ahead of a storm system that passed east across the mid-Mississippi Valley. The southwest flow allowed abundant moisture to stream across the region directly from the Pacific Ocean. Showers and a few isolated thunderstorms occurred, including some with very heavy rainfall.
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 Nov 8, 7:10 PM CST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 710 PM CST TUE NOV 8 2011 .UPDATE... UPDATE TO PUBLIC DISCUSSION. && .DISCUSSION... SHOWERS AND A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO IMPACT A GOOD PART OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND INTO SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS THIS EVENING. SPOTTERS REPORT UP TO AN INCH OF RAIN HAS ALREADY FALLEN IN PARTS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SO THESE SHOWERS ARE FAIRLY EFFICIENT RAIN PRODUCERS. MODELS WERE DEFINITELY SLOW IN BRINGING THE PRECIP INTO THE AREA SO SOON BUT THE NEWEST RUC MODELS INDICATE THAT THROUGH MIDNIGHT...THE HEAVIEST SWATH OF RAIN WILL CONTINUE OVER SEMO/SOUTHWEST IL...WITH A GRADUAL OVERSPREADING OF RAIN INTO THE REST OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AND INTO WEST KENTUCKY. PARTS OF SEMO/SOUTHERN IL WILL HAVE TO BE WATCHED FOR POTENTIAL FLOODING PROBLEMS. ALTHOUGH AS OF NOW...CALLS INTO THE AFOREMENTIONED AREAS REVEAL NO PROBLEMS AS OF NOW. IN ADDITION...WILL CONTINUE TO WATCH FOR THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER IN PARTS OF SEMO/SOUTHERN IL. THE RAINFALL THAT IS OCCURRING NOW IS ACTING TO STABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE AND KEEP THE BEST ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS TO OUR SOUTH. HOWEVER...THE WIND FIELDS WILL INCREASE THIS EVENING/OVERNIGHT...SO ISOLATED SEVERE WIND GUSTS ARE STILL POSSIBLE. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR...AS A TORNADO WATCH IS NOW IN AFFECT JUST TO OUR SOUTH...FROM THE MO BOOTHEEL SOUTHWARD. && .AVIATION... MAIN CHALLENGE THROUGH THE FIRST 9 TO 12 HOURS OF THE FORECAST PERIOD WILL BE THE IMPACT OF PRECIPITATION COVERAGE AND INTENSITY FOR THE CEILINGS AND VISIBLITIES OVER THE WFO PAH TAF SITES. AT THIS TIME...DROPPED CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES FROM VFR TO MVFR WITHIN 3 TO 5 HOURS OF PRECIPITATION ONSET. AFTER THE FRONTAL PASSAGE ACROSS THE TAF SITES /APPROX. 07Z AT KCGI TO 14Z AT KOWB/...A BRIEF 2-4 HOUR PERIOD OF CLEARING WILL TAKE PLACE...FOLLOWED BY THE INTRUSION OF UPPER MVFR/LOWER VFR CEILINGS WITH COLD AIR STRATOCUMULUS. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && PUBLIC...CW AVIATION...KES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 740 AM CST TUE NOV 8 2011 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-091345- 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- 740 AM CST TUE NOV 8 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. THE MAIN HAZARDS WILL BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND POSSIBLY A TORNADO OR TWO. ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT EAST OF THE SLIGHT RISK AREA...INCLUDING WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL LIKELY OCCUR ALONG A STRONG COLD FRONT THAT WILL CROSS MUCH OF OUR REGION BETWEEN 10 PM AND 4 AM. SOUTH WINDS WILL GUST TO 25 TO 30 MPH AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON. THIS MAY POSE A BOATING HAZARD AS WELL AS A HAZARD TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC AND OUTDOOR WORKERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A FEW STORMS MAY LINGER WEDNESDAY MORNING BUT STRONG STORMS THEN ARE NOT EXPECTED. A WIDESPREAD FREEZE IS ANTICIPATED THURSDAY NIGHT WITH LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S TO NEAR 30 DEGREES. A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS RETURNS TO THE FORECAST NEXT SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED LATE TODAY AND TONIGHT...MAINLY OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. MY/DH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Low-lying street flooding was reported in Poplar Bluff. At the Poplar Bluff airport, nearly 1.5 inches of rain was measured in three hours. The rainfall total for the day was 2.44 inches at the airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, November 2011
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: 352233.