An extensive squall line crossed western Kentucky, producing strong to severe wind gusts along its path. Thunderstorms were organized into bowing line segments that moved rapidly east at 50 to 60 mph.
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.
An extensive squall line crossed western Kentucky, producing strong to severe wind gusts along its path. Thunderstorms were organized into bowing line segments that moved rapidly east at 50 to 60 mph. The storms occurred along and ahead of a cold front that trailed south from a low pressure center near St. Louis. Isolated severe thunderstorm cells developed ahead of the quasi-linear convective system. Moderate instability existed ahead of the line of storms, with capes from 1500 to 2500 j/kg. Wind shear remained more than adequate for organization of the storms, with winds veering vertically in the lowest 3 km.
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 Sep 7, 6:27 PM CST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 727 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2012 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 716 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2012 STORM UPDATE...DURING THE PAST HOUR...SHEAR ALOFT HAS INCREASED ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVING SOUTHEAST FROM CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WITH NEW THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AHEAD OF THE SOUTHERN MISSOURI LARGE SCALE BOW ECHO. DURING THE NEXT ONE TO TWO HOURS...LOOK FOR NEW UPSCALE CONVECTION /THUNDERSTORMS/ AHEAD OF THE MAIN LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO PULSE UP CLOSE TO OR EXCEED SEVERE LEVELS. AT THIS TIME...THE PRIMARY CONCERN WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS. THERE IS AN MCV /MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE VORTEX/ EVOLVING OVER JACKSON COUNTY NEAR KMDH /SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AIRPORT/...AROUND CARBONDALE ILLINOIS ATR 0022Z /722 PM CDT/...A CORRIDOR OF WINDS AT OR ABOVE SEVERE LEVELS WILL LIKELY ACROSS FRANKIN...WILLIAMSON...SALINE ...HAMILTON...WHITE AND GALLATIN COUNTY DURING THE NEXT ONE TO ONE AND HALF HOURS. THE NORTHERN EXTENT OF THESE STRONG WINDS MAY BE MITIGATED BY THE SOLID LINE OF STORMS MOVING SOUTHEAST TOWARD THE WABASH RIVER. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY EVENING) ISSUED AT 716 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2012 THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MORE WDSPRD AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES...AND THE 00Z TAFS CONTAIN A GUESS AS TO TIMING OF CONVECTION. TSTMS ARE EXPECTED TO COME IN TWO WAVES AT THIS TIME...ONE AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT AND ONE ASSOCIATED WITH IT. EXPECT IFR VSBYS UNDER TSTMS...WITH MOSTLY MVFR CIGS. THOUGH WINDS WILL BE GUSTING OUT OF THE NW BEHIND THE FRONT...CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE TOWARD SUNRISE. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY REACH SEVERE LIMITS. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && UPDATE...SMITH AVIATION...DB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1254 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2012 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-081000- 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- 1254 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY TONIGHT IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER HAZARDS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL. SMALL...BRIEF TORNADOES CANNOT BE RULED OUT ENTIRELY THAT COULD RESULT IN ENHANCED WIND DAMAGE. A TRANSITION FROM A SEVERE WEATHER RISK...TO HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TONIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS COULD RESULT IN SOME STANDING WATER IN LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND THE FIRST HALF OF TONIGHT.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
801 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0730 PM TSTM WND DMG MARION 37.73N 88.94W
09/07/2012 WILLIAMSON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
A ROOF OFF A BUSINESS AND MANY TREES DOWN
&&
DLLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
808 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0802 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NW GALATIA 37.87N 88.65W
09/07/2012 SALINE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
THREE TREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 34.
&&
DLLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
815 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0809 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 4 SE PATTON 37.40N 89.99W
09/07/2012 BOLLINGER MO EMERGENCY MNGR
&&
DLLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
822 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0809 PM TSTM WND GST HARRISBURG 37.74N 88.55W
09/07/2012 E65.00 MPH SALINE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN
&&
DLLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
823 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0723 PM TSTM WND DMG MAKANDA 37.62N 89.24W
09/07/2012 JACKSON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES DOWN
&&
DLLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
825 PM CDT FRI SEP 07 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0815 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 S MCLEANSBORO 38.08N 88.53W
09/07/2012 HAMILTON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES DOWN BLOCKING MAJOR HIGHWAY 142 SOUTH.
&&
DLLThe Paducah radar (KPAH), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:48 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
There was minor shingle damage to houses in a subdivision.
A mesonet site measured 1.12 inches in 30 minutes.
A wind gust to 70 mph was measured by a trained spotter. There were downed tree limbs and power outages.
Localized street flooding was reported. Some streets were borderline impassable.
A wind gust to 61 mph was measured in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
Power lines were blown down.
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, September 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: 407003, 407198, 407199, 407197, 407201, 407200.