Isolated severe storms occurred along the back edge of a warm and humid air mass. The storms formed along and just ahead of an upper level disturbance as it exited western Kentucky.
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.
Isolated severe storms occurred along the back edge of a warm and humid air mass. The storms formed along and just ahead of an upper level disturbance as it exited 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 May 21, 2:23 PM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 323 PM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 323 PM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 CLOUDS WILL DECREASE ACROSS THE PAH FORECAST AREA FROM WEST TO EAST TONIGHT AS DRY AIR FILTERS INTO THE REGION. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL EXTEND FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION THROUGH THE MIDDLE AND LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY REGION TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. WINDS WILL REMAIN NORTHERLY...WHICH WILL HELP TEMPERATURES REMAIN BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS. && .LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY) ISSUED AT 323 PM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 MODELS CONTINUE TO BUILD A STRONG UPPER LEVEL HIGH OVER THE REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WHICH WILL RESULT IN DRY AND UNSEASONABLY WARM WEATHER. THE GFS HINTS AT ISOLATED CONVECTION BY MEMORIAL DAY... WHEREAS THE ECMWF DOES NOT PERSISTS AN H50 RIDGE LONGER. THESE CONDITIONS ABOVE WILL ONLY SERVE TO MAINTAIN OR INCREASE SHORT TERM DROUGHT AND TEMPS ACROSS THE AREA. WE WENT LOWER THAN GUIDANCE ON AFTERNOON DEW POINTS GIVEN MODEL SOUNDING DEPICTIONS...AND LEFT POPS OUT FOR THE TIME...BEING DAY 7 DURING A MAJOR DROUGHT. ALSO..EVEN SHORT TERM MOS TEMPS HAVE BEEN TOO COOL ON MAX TEMPS ON SUNNY DAYS...MOST LIKELY DUE TO THE DRY CONDITIONS. EXTENDED GUIDANCE HAS EVEN MORE CLIMO INJECTED INTO IT. THUS...WILL ADD AT LEAST A FEW DEGREES TO MEX MOS MAX TEMPS. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED GIVEN THIS WEATHER/SOIL COMBO...AND THE FACT THAT WE HAD MID 90S WITH THIS PAST HEAT WAVE..IF SOME AREAS DO NOT FLIRT WITH UPPER 90S TO NEAR 100 DEGREES FRI/SAT/SUN. WILL HALF STEP FOR NOW AND GO AROUND 96ISH MOST AFTNS. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 323 PM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 ANY LINGERING SHRA/TRSA AROUND KOWB/KEVV WILL MOVE OUT BY 00Z. VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS ALL SITES THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD. NORTH WINDS AT 5 TO 10 KTS WILL DECREASE TO 5 KTS OR LESS AFTER 00Z...BECOMING NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 5 TO 10 KTS AFTER 13Z. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && SHORT TERM...RST LONG TERM....GM AVIATION...RST
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 449 AM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-221000- 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- 449 AM CDT MON MAY 21 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL END FROM WEST TO EAST TODAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY ELEVATED FIRE DANGER IS LIKELY BY LATER THIS WEEK. MOST OF THE AREA RECEIVED LESS THAN AN INCH OF RAIN FROM THE RAIN YESTERDAY AND ONLY SCATTERED LOCATIONS WILL SEE ANY APPRECIABLE RAIN TODAY. THIS WILL DO LITTLE TO EASE THE DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE REGION. NO RAIN IS EXPECTED THE REST OF THE WEEK AND TEMPERATURES WILL RETURN TO ABOVE NORMAL LEVELS BY WEDNESDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. PS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 hail, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
The hail was reported on Interstate 24 at mile marker 89, which is at the junction of Highway 115.
Water was over a state road. The state highway department was called to assess the situation.
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, May 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: 377955, 377957.