The northern end of a line of thunderstorms clipped southwest Indiana as it raced eastward during the late afternoon and evening. A surface low pressure wave over the Ozark Mountain region accelerated eastward in advance of a compact upper-level shortwave over the southern Plains.
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 northern end of a line of thunderstorms clipped southwest Indiana as it raced eastward during the late afternoon and evening. A surface low pressure wave over the Ozark Mountain region accelerated eastward in advance of a compact upper-level shortwave over the southern Plains. Extremely strong wind shear compensated for weak instability. Strong forcing along the front and a moist low level air mass contributed to a forced line of storms, including some without lightning. A few of these storms produced damaging wind gusts.
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 Oct 31, 6:10 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 710 PM CDT Thu Oct 31 2013 .UPDATE... Updated aviation section. Vorticity maximum in the mid levels is now punching into wrn parts of the region, concentrating lift just ahead of it. This has resulted in a consolidation of showers and tstms into a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). We will update the grid forecast again to reflect this. With anemic mid level lapse rates, tstm activity has been sporatic at best until the QLCS formed. Most-stable CAPE values are presently hovering in the 300 j/kg range, and presently it is a bit uncertain if widespread lightning activity will progress all the way across the PAH forecast area this evening. Severe wx possibilities will continue with the line for a few hours. && .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Saturday night) ISSUED AT 215 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 Wx should become more active here over the next few hours as the dynamic upper trof ejects ENE from the central Plains, with a cold front moving into the area this evening. Wind fields are forecast to strengthen with some weak instability developing as well. As a result, the severe weather threat is in play, with locally damaging wind gusts most likely. However a brief tornado or two cannot be ruled out. PoPs will be high end likely to low end categorical as overall coverage should be less than what we saw through the morning hours. We have seen some impressive gradient wind gusts through the morning and early afternoon. This may continue from time to time ahead of the front. Overall though, mostly below Wind Advisory Criteria. Should have nearly all of the precip out by 06z or so. Dry weather is forecast after that as high pressure gradually builds into the area. In terms of temps, used a blend of GFS and NAM MOS. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Thursday) ISSUED AT 215 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 Medium to high confidence with the storm system next week and low confidence on the exact timing. High pressure will build into the region at the surface at the start of the extended with upper level ridging in concert with surface high. This will provide clear skies Sunday with slightly below normal temperatures...albeit with plenty of sunshine. Temperatures will warm up as the high drifts to the east and a trough digs to the west placing the heartland in a southerly flow. The system next week seems fairly certain but timing issues persist among the models. The much slower ECMWF compared to the much faster GFS has prompted pop mentions for a longer duration than will actually come to fruition. A strong low level jet of 50 knots will accompany this system. This combined with showalters nearing zero and k index values >30c will at least include a chance of elevated thunder. Models do agree on the system exiting the area by Thursday evening at the latest. Also pushed back the start time of anything until Tuesday with thunder chc starting Tuesday night. && .AVIATION... ISSUED AT 710 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 Robust sfc winds are expected to gradually subside overnight to below 10 kts. However, in addition to lesser convection, a line of tstms, with a few embedded severe tstms, will progress ewd across the PAH forecast area this evening, creating brief periods of MVFR/IFR vsbys and mostly MVFR cigs. A cold front will enter the region during the evening, providing a wind shift to the west, which will last through the end of the 00Z TAF period. Generally improving conditions are expected during the day Fri. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && SHORT TERM...DB LONG TERM...KH AVIATION...DB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 739 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-020045- 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- 739 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. A BRIEF TORNADO OR TWO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL BE PREVALENT WITH MOST STORMS. MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS WILL BE EAST AT AROUND 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AROUND THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION HAS BEEN REQUESTED TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF THE REGION.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
823 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0810 PM TSTM WND DMG STONEFORT 37.62N 88.71W
10/31/2013 SALINE IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
ROOF TORN OFF OF HOME IN THE COMMUNITY.
&&
SMITTYPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
828 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0826 PM TSTM WND DMG MONKEYS EYEBROW 37.19N 88.99W
10/31/2013 BALLARD KY TRAINED SPOTTER
TREES DOWN.
&&
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</html>PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
855 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM TSTM WND DMG BLANDVILLE 36.94N 88.96W
10/31/2013 BALLARD KY EMERGENCY MNGR
MOBILE HOME BLOWN OFF OF FOUNDATION.
&&
SMITTYPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
902 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0902 PM TSTM WND GST EVANSVILLE 37.98N 87.54W
10/31/2013 M55 MPH VANDERBURGH IN TRAINED SPOTTER
WINDS MEASURED IN ANGEL MOUNDS SUBDIVISION. TREES BENDING
TOWARD THE GROUND.
&&
SMITTYPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
904 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0855 PM TSTM WND GST HENDERSON 37.84N 87.58W
10/31/2013 M54 MPH HENDERSON KY AWOS
MEASURED AT HENDERSON COUNTY AIRPORT.
&&
SMITTYThe Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:11 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees were blown down. A power line was down across a home.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, October 2013
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 478358, 478359.