A deepening low pressure center moved northeast from eastern Arkansas to central Kentucky. This system brought heavy rain to parts of western Kentucky.
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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.
A deepening low pressure center moved northeast from eastern Arkansas to central Kentucky. This system brought heavy rain to parts of 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 Jan 26, 11:20 AM CST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1120 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012 .UPDATE... UPDATED AVIATION SECTION AND PUBLIC SECTION TO REFLECT CURRENT TRENDS. && .DISCUSSION... THE GRIDS THROUGH 00Z HAVE UNDERGONE EXTENSIVE REVISION...AND WX/POP GRIDS THROUGH 00Z ARE NOW A BLEND OF PREVIOUS GRIDS PLUS SOME HRRR/RUC13/NAM12 MODEL DATA...MODELS WHICH SEEMED TO HAVE INITIALIZED THE BEST. ONE SFC LOW HAS MOVED ON TO THE NE...AND THE PAH FORECAST AREA IS NOW UNDER A BRIEF RIDGING SITUATION ALOFT...JUST AHEAD OF THE SRN STREAM MID LEVEL LOW. THIS LIKELY WILL CONTINUE TO RESULT IN LITTLE TO NO PCPN THROUGH MID AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY IN THE NWRN HALF OF THE AREA. THE PENNYRILE MAY GET AN OCCASIONAL LIGHT SHOWER THROUGH MID AFTERNOON AS ANOTHER SFC LOW APPROACHES WRN KY FROM THE SW. AS THE LOW LEVEL WINDS GRADUALLY TURN NWRLY TODAY...FOG OVER PARTS OF SWRN IND AND WRN KY SHOULD GRADUALLY DIMINISH...LINGERING AS LONG AS MID AFTERNOON IN THE PENNYRILE REGION OF WRN KY. IN THE LATE AFTERNOON...A FEW TSTMS WITH AT LEAST MODERATE RAINFALL RATES ARE STILL POSSIBLE IN THE PENNYRILE AS THE AFOREMENTIONED LOW MAY PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT FOR DEEP MOIST ASCENT. CERTAINLY...THERE WILL BE SOME RAINFALL OVER SWRN IND/WRN KY IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. LESSER POPS EXIST FOR SRN IL/SERN MO...BUT THE PRESENCE OF THE PARENT MID LEVEL SHRTWV MAY GENERATE SOME LIGHT RAIN THERE. TODAY...HIGH TEMPS WILL BE AROUND 60 NEAR FORTCAMPBELL...TAPERING OFF INTO THE 40S FURTHER NW...AND TENDING TO DROP DURING THE AFTERNOON. && .AVIATION... SIGNIFICANT ADJUSTMENTS MADE TO EXISTING TAFS TO CATCH UP TO DENSE FOG AND EXPECTED PRECIPITATION TRENDS. THE DENSE FOG HAS BEEN BOUNCING UP AND DOWN A BIT SINCE 15Z...AND WOULD EXPECT MODEST IMPROVEMENT BY 18Z. WITH A SURFACE LOW MOVING NORTHEAST JUST SOUTH OF THE AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON...VISIBILITIES WILL BE FORTUNATE TO CLIMB TO MVFR LEVELS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON...AND CEILINGS WILL LIKELY REMAIN AT OR BELOW IFR LEVELS. THE EXCEPTION IS AT KCGI WHERE THE VISIBILITY IS ALREADY VFR. LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE INDICATES THAT A PERIOD OF LIGHT RAIN IS LIKELY AS THE PRIMARY UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING AT KCGI AND KPAH...AND MAINLY THIS EVENING IN THE EAST. THIS WILL LIKELY LEAD TO WORSENING CONDITIONS...GENERALLY IFR. VISIBILITIES WILL IMPROVE TO MVFR LEVELS BEHIND THE SYSTEM OVERNIGHT...BUT IFR CEILINGS ARE LIKELY TO REMAIN THROUGH 12Z. CLEARING IS LIKELY IN THE WEST AFTER 12Z FRIDAY. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && SHORT TERM...DB AVIATION...DRS
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.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1028 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1145 PM TSTM WND DMG 4 NE CALHOUN 37.58N 87.21W
01/22/2012 MCLEAN KY EMERGENCY MNGR
1 MOBILE HOME DESTROYED ON THE WEST SIDE OF HIGHWAY 81
NORTHEAST OF CALHOUN.
&&
RICKSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1033 AM CST THU JAN 26 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1142 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 N CALHOUN 37.61N 87.26W
01/22/2012 MCLEAN KY EMERGENCY MNGR
1 BARN DESTROYED IN NORTH CENTRAL MCLEAN COUNTY LESS THAN
1 MILE FROM THE MCLEAN-DAVIESS COUNTY LINE.
&&
RICKSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Standing water was observed in yards and farmland. Around Dunmor and Penrod, water covered parts of U.S. Highway 431 and Kentucky 949. No road closures were reported. Rainfall rates were around one-quarter inch per hour on saturated ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, 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: 357083.