Scattered thunderstorms developed during the late evening on August 7th, centered over the Kentucky Bluegrass Region. The slow movement of these storms, coupled with a tropical environment in which precipitable water values exceeded 2 inches, led to several very localized instances of flash flooding.
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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 LMK wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms developed during the late evening on August 7th, centered over the Kentucky Bluegrass Region. The slow movement of these storms, coupled with a tropical environment in which precipitable water values exceeded 2 inches, led to several very localized instances of flash flooding. The worst flooding developed over Anderson and Shelby Counties. Dual Polarization Radar estimated that over 6 inches of rain fell within a 3 hour period near Sinai in Anderson County. Twenty miles to the northwest, radar estimated around 4 inches of rainfall that fell near Southville, in Shelby County. A Coop observer in Anderson County measured 4.06 inches of rain.
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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 7, 6:34 PM EST, 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 734 PM EDT Wed Aug 7 2013 ...Updated Aviation Discussion... ...Forecast Update... Issued at 632 PM EDT Wed Aug 7 2013 Decided to lower PoPs about ten percentage points across the area since not much is going on right now and it appears there shouldn't be much development in the near future. Will still allow PoPs to rise a bit after midnight as the cold front to our northwest approaches. .SHORT TERM (Now through Thursday Night)... Issued at 305 PM EDT Wed Aug 7 2013 Forecast uncertainty remains in place for this update as models once again seemingly fail on obtaining a good handle on the slowly approaching frontal boundary, currently draped across the southern Great Lakes. It appears that the deterministic models are too quick to bring in the front, given recent obs versus model trends. Have been very tempted to bring down PoPs to just slight chance across the forecast area given the fact that the rain didn't pan out last night (it remained well to the west of the local area) but just cannot with the atmosphere in its current and continued state. An upper-level perturbation looks to traverse on through tonight, which could be the focus of renewed convection. With PWATs continuing to exceed 2 inches and enough instability in place to assist, it'll be quite possible for scattered showers or storms to develop overnight. If this does not transpire, then central KY could once again be looking at fog developing by the pre-dawn hours Thursday as light to calm SW winds prevail. Temps tonight will once again be near normal, lingering in the lower 70s. For Thursday, have gone with chance to likely PoPs under this well-advertised moist, unstable airmass. The front will be much closer to the region, allowing for increased storm chances versus today. This will also keep persistent cloud cover throughout the day, keeping temps in the low to mid 80s. Inherited previous forecast called for mid to upper 80s but am trending down from this as today's highs have struggled to get out of the lower 80s. As the front approaches, winds will make a subtle, gradual shift from the SW to out of the west by Thursday night. Decent precip chances will continue into tomorrow night with lows once again in the low 70s. .LONG TERM (Friday through Wednesday)... Issued at 305 PM EDT Wed Aug 7 2013 ...Episodic convection with localized heavy downpours possible Friday through Sunday... A blocky upper air pattern over Canada will feature a strong yet compact closed 500mb low near St Jame's Bay Friday afternoon. This feature will move east towards Labrador by late Saturday. A cold front associated with this closed low will slowly sag south and stall across southern Indiana by Friday afternoon. A weak wave will ride northeast along this boundary and along the Ohio River late Friday before this front sags south towards Tennessee by Sunday morning. This boundary will become the focus of episodic convection through early Sunday. Deep layer moisture and surface dewpoints will stay quite high Friday through early Sunday. Both the NAM and the GFS forecast PWATs along Interstate 64 at or above 2 inches, peaking perhaps late Friday as this afore-mentioned wave moves through. Attempting to time or specifically pinpoint the location of any any specific round of thunderstorms will be difficult. Our best chance of widespread convection, some locally heavy, will be for Friday afternoon and through Saturday morning. Both the GFS and the NAM have a weak shortwave moving across northern Kentucky at this time. The NAM forecasts the development of a weak southwest low level jet across southern Kentucky by 06z Saturday with northerly flow persisting across southern Indiana during this same time period. Beginning to think that potential axis of heaviest precipitation will lie along Interstate 64 or farther south. Slightly drier air will begin to filter south across the Ohio River by late Saturday. We will have a chance of thunderstorms Saturday area-wide as well, but with a concentration farther south towards Tennessee. Our highs will stay moderated by cloud cover and potential precipitation, peaking this weekend only in the mid to upper 80s. Dewpoints will remain at or above 70 through Sunday afternoon, leading to a series of warm uncomfortable nights. Surface winds will stay quite light and variable, becoming light northerly late Saturday. High pressure will build across the western Great Lakes Sunday. Drier air will attempt to filter in south of the Ohio River during the day, but will have a hard time moving as far south as the Tennessee border by early Monday. With humid air remaining across our south and the presence of this potential boundary will continue with a chance of thunderstorms through Monday evening with better coverage across our south. Finally, by Monday night, a dry forecast! The ECMWF especially, lowers PWATs across the Commonwealth by late Monday and keeps any scattered convection farther south in Tennessee. Highs Sunday and Monday may rise a degree or two into the upper 80s. && .AVIATION (00Z TAF Update)... Issued at 731 PM EDT Wed Aug 7 2013 Currently, a cold front stretches from the southern Great Lakes, southwestward through St. Louis, and on down to the Red River Valley. This front will slowly sink southeastward tonight, settling across southern Indiana for Thursday. The airmass will continue to be very moist and somewhat unstable, however the lack of any strong triggering mechanisms will keep precipitation chances low confidence. The main concern for the overnight period will deal with low ceiling and fog chances once again as forecast soundings/time heights show plenty of low level moisture to work with. Expect tonight to progress much like last night with visibilities dropping into the MVFR range by the late evening under variably cloudy skies. Then, as we near dawn we expect some lower stratus to build in bringing ceilings at least below fuel alternate at all sites, and likely below IFR thresholds at LEX/BWG. Will keep SDF below fuel alternate, but not in the IFR range for now. These ceilings will likely persist through at least morning, until some mixing occurs and lifts things back into the high MVFR/VFR range. Coverage of showers and storms my be higher on Thursday with the frontal boundary stalled just north of the TAF sites. && .LMK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. IN...NONE. && Update.........13 Short Term.....LG Long Term......JSD Aviation.......BJS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 318 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 INZ076>079-083-084-089>092-KYZ023>043-045>049-053>057-061>067- 070>078-081-082-081930- ORANGE IN-WASHINGTON IN-SCOTT IN-JEFFERSON IN-DUBOIS IN- CRAWFORD IN-PERRY IN-HARRISON IN-FLOYD IN-CLARK IN-HANCOCK KY- BRECKINRIDGE KY-MEADE KY-OHIO KY-GRAYSON KY-HARDIN KY-BULLITT KY- JEFFERSON KY-OLDHAM KY-TRIMBLE KY-HENRY KY-SHELBY KY-FRANKLIN KY- SCOTT KY-HARRISON KY-SPENCER KY-ANDERSON KY-WOODFORD KY- FAYETTE KY-BOURBON KY-NICHOLAS KY-NELSON KY-WASHINGTON KY- MERCER KY-JESSAMINE KY-CLARK KY-LARUE KY-MARION KY-BOYLE KY- GARRARD KY-MADISON KY-BUTLER KY-EDMONSON KY-HART KY-GREEN KY- TAYLOR KY-CASEY KY-LINCOLN KY-LOGAN KY-WARREN KY-SIMPSON KY- ALLEN KY-BARREN KY-MONROE KY-METCALFE KY-ADAIR KY-RUSSELL KY- CUMBERLAND KY-CLINTON KY- 318 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 /218 PM CDT WED AUG 7 2013/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE PRIMARY HAZARD WITH THESE STORMS. A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS COULD PRODUCE BRIEF GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE EXPECTED THURSDAY THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME LIKELY FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY AS A COLD FRONT BECOMES STATIONARY ALONG THE OHIO RIVER. ALTHOUGH NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED...AN EXTREMELY MOIST TROPICAL AIRMASS MAY PRODUCE LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN AND EVEN SOME MINOR FLOODING FROM ANY STORMS THAT CAN TRAIN OVER A SPECIFIC AREA. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTINUE SUNDAY AND MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY HEAVY RAIN OR FLOODING THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT WEATHER.GOV/LOUISVILLE. LG/JSD
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 758 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 KYZ035-036-039>041-046>048-054>057-066-067-080100- FRANKLIN KY-SCOTT KY-ANDERSON KY-WOODFORD KY-FAYETTE KY- WASHINGTON KY-MERCER KY-JESSAMINE KY-MARION KY-BOYLE KY- GARRARD KY-MADISON KY-CASEY KY-LINCOLN KY- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FRANKFORT...GEORGETOWN...LAWRENCEBURG... VERSAILLES...LEXINGTON...SPRINGFIELD...HARRODSBURG... NICHOLASVILLE...LEBANON...DANVILLE...LANCASTER...RICHMOND... LIBERTY...STANFORD 758 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 ...TROPICAL DOWNPOURS IN THE KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS... AT 755 PM EDT A 45 MILE WIDE BAND OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM FRANKFORT THROUGH HARRODSBURG TO LIBERTY. THIS AREA OF SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE BLUE GRASS REGION INCLUDING AREAS AROUND GEORGETOWN...LEXINGTON...LANCASTER...AND RICHMOND. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE HEAVY TROPICAL DOWNPOURS. WHILE WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...VISIBILITIES WILL BE DRASTICALLY REDUCED AND WATER WILL COLLECT ON ROADWAYS. BE SURE TO USE CAUTION IF DRIVING INTO ONE OF THESE STORMS. SLOW DOWN AND TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS FOR ADDED SAFETY. 13
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 804 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 KYZ035-036-039>041-046>048-054>057-066-067-080100- FRANKLIN KY-SCOTT KY-ANDERSON KY-WOODFORD KY-FAYETTE KY- WASHINGTON KY-MERCER KY-JESSAMINE KY-MARION KY-BOYLE KY- GARRARD KY-MADISON KY-CASEY KY-LINCOLN KY- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FRANKFORT...GEORGETOWN...LAWRENCEBURG... VERSAILLES...LEXINGTON...SPRINGFIELD...HARRODSBURG... NICHOLASVILLE...LEBANON...DANVILLE...LANCASTER...RICHMOND... LIBERTY...STANFORD 804 PM EDT WED AUG 7 2013 ...TROPICAL DOWNPOURS IN THE KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS... AT 755 PM EDT A 45 MILE WIDE BAND OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM FRANKFORT THROUGH HARRODSBURG TO LIBERTY. THIS AREA OF SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE BLUE GRASS REGION INCLUDING AREAS AROUND GEORGETOWN...LEXINGTON...LANCASTER...AND RICHMOND. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE HEAVY TROPICAL DOWNPOURS. WHILE WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...VISIBILITIES WILL BE DRASTICALLY REDUCED AND WATER WILL COLLECT ON ROADWAYS. BE SURE TO USE CAUTION IF DRIVING INTO ONE OF THESE STORMS. SLOW DOWN AND TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS FOR ADDED SAFETY. A FEW WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. 13
The Louisville radar (KLVX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:21 UTC.
7 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A creek overflowed its banks in Harrodsburg and covered State Highway 127 with two feet of running water. A car became stalled near this overpass.
Richmond law enforcement reported water over a portion of Interstate 75 associated with a flooded field nearby.
Local law enforcement reported that standing water flooded several cars near Berea.
Heavy rains of up to 5 inches brought flooding to the intersection of Puncheon Creek Road and State Highway 53. Nearby, a house and a church were flooded. An overpass on State Highway 53 was damaged by flooding.
Local law enforcement reported that flooding closed Willisburg Road for around an hour starting shortly after midnight local time.
Shelby County Road Department reported that quite a bit of vegetative debris was left on several roads in the morning from flash flooding that developed shortly after midnight. Two of these were Cap Ridge and Little Crooked Creek, both located around 4 miles north of Mount Eden.
The 4500 block of Rockbridge Road had to be closed due to flash flooding.
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: 458999, 459000, 459001, 459002, 459003, 459004, 459005.