Wet conditions in late January brought the Little Wabash and Ohio Rivers back above flood stage. A complex storm system moved east out of the Plains on the 22nd.
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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.
Wet conditions in late January brought the Little Wabash and Ohio Rivers back above flood stage. A complex storm system moved east out of the Plains on the 22nd. Warm moist Gulf of Mexico air fueled showers and even some thunderstorms. This line of storms was slow-moving with torrential rainfall. Rain amounts averaged around one inch. This system stalled over the Deep South, then was pulled back north as an upper-level closed low opened up and passed across the Ohio Valley by the 29th. The combination of the surface front and the upper-level trough produced scattered showers that produced another one-half to one inch of rain between the 25th and 29th. This heavy rain caused a few rivers to rise above flood stage by the end of the month, but they did not crest until the first few days of February. Only minor flooding occurred.
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 26, 2:55 AM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 255 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012 .SHORT TERM /TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL MOVE FROM TEXAS TO THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY REGION TODAY AND OPEN UP. SURFACE LOW PRESSURE WILL PASS JUST SOUTH AND EAST OF THE REGION. SO FAR...IT SEEMS QPF MAY BE OVERDONE WITH THIS SYSTEM FOR OUR AREA. WE HAVE BACKED OFF HPC QPF FOR TODAY...CLOSER TO A SREF/GFS BLEND. BETTER MOISTURE AND RESULTANT QPF SHOULD BE EAST OF OUR CWFA. KEPT THE LIMITED TSRA CHANCE ACROSS FAR SOUTHERN AREAS TODAY. FOR TEMPS...STAYED AT OR BELOW GUIDANCE GIVEN TRAJECTORIES AND SOLID CLOUD COVER/PRECIP. RAIN CHANCES WILL END FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE EVENING WITH DRY WEATHER MIDNIGHT ON. FRIDAY WILL BE DRY...WITH VARIABLE CLOUDS. THE SURFACE RIDGE WILL MOVE EAST OF THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT. A MID LEVEL S/WV WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST FROM THE PLAINS AND SWEEP A FRONT ACROSS THE AREA. THIS SYSTEM HAS LITTLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH. BUT ENOUGH LIFT AND MOISTURE MAY BE PRESENT TO GENERATE A SOME VERY LIGHT RAIN OR FLURRIES. KEPT WITH THE SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR SOME AREAS. THE SYSTEM WILL HEAD EAST ON SATURDAY WITH DRY WEATHER INTO SATURDAY NIGHT AS WELL. .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... THE WEEKEND WILL END ON A DRY BUT CHILLY NOTE AS HIGH TEMPERATURES REACH THE LOWER 40S ON SUNDAY. EARLY NEXT WEEK...THE NORTHWESTERLY UPPER FLOW PATTERN WILL MODIFY TO ZONAL AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE SHIFTS EAST OF THE AREA. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A MODERATION IN TEMPERATURES BOTH MONDAY AND TUESDAY...AS HIGHS NEAR THE 50 DEGREE MARK MONDAY...THEN ESCALATE INTO THE 50S ON TUESDAY. THE LATEST FEW RUNS OF BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH THE SIGNAL FOR RAIN LATE TUESDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT AS THE NEXT WEATHER SYSTEM APPROACHES. AT THIS POINT...WILL LEAVE ANY MENTION OF THUNDER OUT OF THE FORECAST GIVEN MEAGER ELEVATED INSTABILITY PARAMETERS. PRECIPITATION ALSO DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE ALL THAT SIGNIFICANT...WITH MOST OF THE AREA ONLY FORECAST TO RECEIVE AROUND A TENTH OF AN INCH OF RAIN. THERMAL PROFILES ARE WARM ENOUGH THAT FREEZING OR FROZEN PRECIPITATION SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE. IN FACT... TEMPERATURES BEHIND THE SYSTEM ARE FORECAST IN THE 50S ON WEDNESDAY. ELIMINATED MENTION OF RAIN FROM WEDNESDAY AS LATEST MODEL SUITE INDICATES THE WEATHER SYSTEM WILL BE WELL EAST OF THE AREA BY THEN. MAY NEED TO ADJUST FORECAST FOR LATER MODEL RUNS AS FAST ZONAL FLOW PATTERN CAN MAKE INDIVIDUAL SYSTEMS TRICKY TO TIME. && .AVIATION... MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS WILL BE MOST COMMON EARLY THIS MORNING AND ON THROUGH THE MID AFTERNOON...WITH SOME RAIN POSSIBLE AT TIMES. VSBYS SHOULD IMPROVE AS THE AFTERNOON WEARS ON AND INTO TONIGHT AS WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST. HOWEVER MVFR CIGS SHOULD PERSIST...AT LEAST THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 310 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-271100- 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- 310 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012 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 CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH OF A LINE FROM NEW MADRID MISSOURI TO MADISONVILLE KENTUCKY TODAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE...MAINLY EAST OF THE LAKES...ACROSS THE PENNYRILE REGION OF WEST KENTUCKY. MINOR RIVER FLOODING IS OCCURRING ON SEVERAL AREA RIVERS. REFER TO THE RIVER FLOOD WARNING AND STATEMENT PRODUCTS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY MINOR RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON SEVERAL AREA RIVERS. REFER TO THE RIVER FLOOD WARNING AND STATEMENT PRODUCTS FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding of low-lying woods and fields occurred along the Ohio River.
Minor flooding occurred along the Ohio River. Low-lying woods and fields near the river were flooded. Some low parts of Fort Massac State Park were flooded.
Minor flooding of low-lying fields occurred along the Ohio River.
Minor flooding occurred along the Ohio River. Low-lying fields and local river access roads were flooded.
Minor flooding of low-lying fields occurred along the Little Wabash River.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, January 2012
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: 357064, 357063, 357062, 357061, 357065.