A few showers and weak thunderstorms developed under a weak 500 mb trough that extended from the Great Lakes region southward across the Lower Ohio Valley. At the surface, winds were light from the southeast.
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The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
A few showers and weak thunderstorms developed under a weak 500 mb trough that extended from the Great Lakes region southward across the Lower Ohio Valley. At the surface, winds were light from the southeast. A funnel cloud was observed with a shower or storm near Mayfield, KY.
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 Aug 20, 12:40 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 140 PM CDT Tue Aug 20 2013 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 1257 PM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 Updated the aviation section for the 18Z TAF issuance. && .SHORT TERM /Today through Thursday night/... ISSUED AT 318 AM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 Main concern for early this morning is some patchy fog. Compared to 24 hours ago...vsbys at metar sites are higher at most locations. The exceptions are at kcgi and kmdh...which were down to 1/4 mile at 07z. Based on latest obs...plan to handle fog with hwo/sps/graphical nowcast instead of an advisory. The shallow ground fog will burn off quickly this morning...followed by the development of diurnal cumulus clouds. The potential for afternoon convection appears a little higher today than yesterday. There will be some forcing for ascent as an upper level low drops southward through the Mid Mississippi Valley today. Dew point pooling and instability will be maximized along an inverted surface trough that extends from west Tennessee through the khop area to north central KY. Will keep slight chance pops along this trough for the afternoon hours. Convection allowing mesoscale models indicate some weak convection across west KY/sw IN this afternoon. High temps will continue their very slow upward creep...just a degree or two warmer than Monday. Isolated convection will dissipate tonight with loss of diurnal heating. Some patchy fog is likely to form again...mostly where skies clear out across se Missouri and sw Illinois. Cloudiness will be more persistent closer to the upper low in Sw IN and west KY. The upper level low will weaken and move east of our region on Wednesday. Some isolated convection may redevelop across sw IN and west KY before the upper low departs. Low level flow will become south to southwest on Wednesday...keeping the seasonably warm and humid air mass in place. The models have trended just a little faster with the southward movement of a cold front on Thursday and Thursday night. Some afternoon convection is possible Thursday across sw Indiana and adjacent areas. This convection may spread across most of the remainder of our area Thursday night. Coverage of convection should be held down by anticyclonic flow aloft associated with an upper level high just to our west. This high will tend to weaken the front...as indicated by the 00z ecmwf. Pops will be only in the slight chance range. .LONG TERM /Friday through Monday/... ISSUED AT 318 AM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 Don't see the extended going much of anywhere. The allblends still produce light qpf over the far east and with the ecwmf and gfs both showing the Low to the east and the High to the west, at least a small chance mention in the otherwise hot/humid environ seems prudent. Beyond Friday, the upper High takes over, and we believe, suppresses any need for a pop. The models do hint at a scant pop chance, mainly diurnal, as temps/dew points soup up, but the coverage looks to be isolated at best, so we'll leave pops beyond Friday as silent. Upper 80s/near 90 and upper 60s/near 70 should be the rule thru the long term portion of the forecast. && .AVIATION... ISSUED AT 1257 PM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 With the exception of IFR/MVFR vsbys and/or cigs between 08-13z...VFR conditions should prevail at all sites. VCSH/VCTS possible at KEVV/KOWB through 01Z...then again after 14-15Z Wednesday. Winds will either be calm or light and variable aob 5 kts. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...JP LONG TERM/FIRE WX...RST
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 404 AM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-210915- 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- 404 AM CDT TUE AUG 20 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT PATCHY DENSE FOG EARLY THIS MORNING WILL REDUCE VISIBILITY TO ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS...MAINLY NEAR RIVERS AND LAKES. PATCHY FOG MAY DEVELOP AGAIN LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...MAINLY ACROSS WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE IN ANY STORMS. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...MAINLY EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. MY
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 38 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:47 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A small, rope-like funnel cloud extended less than halfway from cloud base to ground level. The funnel cloud was associated with a rain shower or weak thunderstorm. The funnel cloud was photographed by a motorist on Kentucky Highway 80 just west of Mayfield.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, August 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 472529.