Clusters of thunderstorms occurred south of a cold front as it moved south across the Lower Ohio Valley. Moderately strong southwest winds aloft aided storm organization.
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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 PAH wrote it up.
Clusters of thunderstorms occurred south of a cold front as it moved south across the Lower Ohio Valley. Moderately strong southwest winds aloft aided storm organization.
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 8, 11:39 AM CST, 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1239 PM CDT Thu Aug 8 2013 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 1239 PM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 The aviation section has been updated for the 18Z TAF issuance. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) ISSUED AT 238 AM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 Briefly, there has been some patchy fog and at times locally dense. Have a Special Weather Statement out for that and it should only last through daybreak. Forecast confidence for the short term is low. Timing and placement of convection in this flat active quasi w/e oriented mid level steering flow pattern will continue to be a challenge. The NAM, out of any of the models has seemed to be somewhat clued in. Using its h8 moist transport progs, low trop waa fields and forecast instability, it did a decent job with yesterday morning's convection, and the lull that followed in its wake, which continues currently. Am inclined, though not with a high degree of confidence, to continue leaning the forecast toward the NAM. Having mid chance to likely PoPs period after period usually goes against reality in this type of setup for a given point. We have inherited a Special Weather Statement discussing the heavy rain potential. Given the degree of available moisture it goes without saying any convection will be capable of heavy rain. The issues are this. 1) where. 2) antecedent conditions and ongoing FFG values and 3) when. FFG values over the NE 1/2 of the area are still not real concerning. The area of concern is the SW 1/2, and in particular SEMO. Having said that, confidence is still not high enough to issue a watch. If the NAM is on to something with its low trop waa/transport depictions, best chance PoPs may be later Friday into Friday night. If so, then there is still time to fine tune the details and make a call. Today through tonight, the NAM is definitely the drier of the models. It shows convection may affect parts of SEMO esp near the AR border, with only lower chance PoPs NE of there, if that. The GFS and ECMWF are more robust with QPF tonight. Again, not sure what to make of that given the NAM has been a bit better. Forecast temperatures will be a blend of existing numbers, MOS and model output. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Wednesday) ISSUED AT 238 AM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 As with the shorter range numerical model guidance, the medium range model guidance is not too consistent with timing, intensity, and placement of weather systems across the WFO PAH forecast area in this package. However, there is some general patterns that emerge in the operational GFS, Canadian (GEM), and SREF guidance that support a more amplified mid-level circulations (near 700 mb) than above (500 mb) and below (surface). At the beginning of the forecast period (Saturday night), both the GEM and the GFS are consistent in finally shifting the mean surface frontal boundary further south...with some remnants still existing over southern sections of west Kentucky. During this time period, attempted to transition the PoPs and weather further south into west Kentucky into Sunday. As the westerlies dip further south across the WFO PAH forecast area Sunday night into Tuesday, the overall height and temperature gradients become noticeably relaxed as slight ridging briefly builds in from the lower Mississippi Valley. There is a small chance for showers and thunderstorms during this time period. Without any clear sub-synoptic impulses to impact the area, a broadbrush approach was considered with the coverage of PoP/Weather. The ridging at the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere will retrograde from the lower Mississippi Valley into the Southern Plains on Tuesday, allowing a more northwest to southeast transition of the westerlies over the WFO PAH forecast area. The ageostrophic response places the area in a drier northeasterly flow at low levels. This gradually lowers the mean dewpoints over the area. Rain chances are reduced considerably with the drier air intrusion from the northeast from Tuesday into early next Thursday. A second surge of cooler Canadian air moves southeast Wednesday and Thursday, leading to another round of showers and thunderstorms before the cold front pushes into the WFO PAH forecast area on Wednesday. Beyond early next Thursday, it is difficult to determine if the frontal boundary will remain south of the WFO PAH forecast area. Therefore, introduced a chance for showers and thunderstorms across the southern two-thirds of the area into next Thursday and Thursday night. && .AVIATION... ISSUED AT 1239 PM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 Decaying MCS moving across southern Illinois and the Purchase area will continue eastward through the area through the afternoon. It appears that the northern end of the precipitation is decaying fairly rapidly, so am not confident that it will hold together to KEVV and KOWB. It appears that the focus for convection this afternoon will be over west Kentucky, and may eventually clip KOWB later. Figure that the precipitation will mostly be out of KPAH and KCGI at the beginning of the period, but will leave a VCSH until the mid-level disturbance, currently very obvious on satellite and radar imagery over southeast Missouri, passes east. Added in a VCSH at KEVV and KOWB later as a hedge toward a dissipating trend. Will have to watch KOWB closely for TS later this afternoon. The main signal in the latest guidance is for a band of apparently elevated convection to develop in an east/west band across much of the area late tonight. Added a PROB30 for TS at all sites generally in the 09Z to 15Z timeframe. Also have a signal for IFR or low MVFR ceilings late tonight/early Friday. A weak frontal boundary may move into the area at some point during the TAF period, but winds will be light outside of thunderstorms. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && UPDATE...DRS AVIATION...DRS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 321 AM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-091000- 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- 321 AM CDT THU AUG 8 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST THROUGH TONIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND LIGHTNING WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARDS. GUSTY WINDS WITH SOME THUNDERSTORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL BE THE PRIMARY HAZARDS WITH STRONGER THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT IN WITH RAINFALL AMOUNTS OR WITH REPORTS OF FLOODING.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
926 AM CDT THU AUG 08 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0610 AM DOWNBURST 3 SW LONE OAK 37.01N 88.70W
08/07/2013 MCCRACKEN KY NWS EMPLOYEE
DOZENS OF TREES AND LIMBS DOWN. CARPORT BLOWN 400 FEET
AND DESTROYED.
&&
KELLYHThe Paducah radar (KPAH), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:25 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees and limbs were blown down. A tree landed on a house.
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: 468092.