A bowing line of thunderstorms was accompanied by strong winds up to 58 mph. The storms occurred well in advance of a cold front over the central Plains.
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The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
A bowing line of thunderstorms was accompanied by strong winds up to 58 mph. The storms occurred well in advance of a cold front over the central Plains. The storms were fueled by a strong southerly wind flow of moist and unstable air.
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 May 8, 7:45 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 845 PM CDT Thu May 8 2014 .UPDATE... Issued at 845 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 A north to south oriented line of thunderstorms with trailing stratiform rain is approaching the Mississippi River and will continue to move north northeast into southern Illinois mainly to the west of I-57 through the remainder of the evening. It looks like western portions of southeast Missouri will be drying out pretty soon, and they may have a few hours before the next round arrives midnight or a bit later. LAPS soundings indicate a weakening cap and the RAP has LI's of -2 to -3 over southern Illinois. See no reason why they will not continue through much of southern Illinois with modest intensity this evening. Not sure just how far east they will get, but the RAP tries hard to confine the precipitation to Missouri and Illinois through midnight. Of course, as the upper trough pushes closer to the area overnight, another round of widespread showers and thunderstorms is expected to overspread most of the area by daybreak Friday morning. Tried to account for the aforementioned trends in the hourly pop/wx grids, but made few other changes with this update. The Lake Wind Advisory died a natural death at 01Z. UPDATE Issued at 610 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 UPDATE FOR AVIATION ONLY. && .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Saturday night) Issued at 304 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 Focus in the short term continues to be on convective chances. Band of convection central/sw MO into west AR will track slowly east late this afternoon and evening. Will have best chance PoPs west 1/2 before midnight shifting slowly east overnight. Really not all that concerned about severe wx over our SEMO counties at this time given marginal lapse rates modest instability. Convective chances will shift east Friday morning. It may linger from SW IN into the Pennyrile through early afternoon, where temps may be held down a couple of degrees. Otherwise, the atmosphere should have some time to recover heading west, ahead of an approaching, stalling front. Convection should take shape in this area and eventually focus SRN IL into SE MO late in the day in some form or fashion then head east through the evening. Mid and upper level winds are relatively impressive, not so much blyr- 700mb. Storms with decent mid level rotation, with steepening low level lapse rates may yield wind and hailers, best chances west/southwest part of the CWFA. Chances should diminish from west to east after midnight Friday night. May see a lull Saturday, then another chance moving in from the west overnight Saturday night, potentially an MCS. Slightly better chances north than south. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Thursday) Issued at 304 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 The main weather story during the long term will be a strong cold front that will sweep across our region early next week. This front will be accompanied by a period of rain and thunderstorms. The front will bring a noticeable cooling of temperatures from above normal to below normal. As far as the daily details... On Sunday...a reservoir of warm...moist and very unstable air will cover a large part of the central states including our region. It is likely that one or more convective systems will develop over the Plains and then propagate eastward through this unstable air mass...fed by a moderately strong low level jet. Since there is little skill at forecasting these systems in the long range period...the forecast will include a generic chance pop. High temps will remain quite warm...basically in line with gfs/ecmwf mos. On Monday...the high amplitude 500 mb trough and associated cold front will draw closer. The genesis region of convective systems will remain to our west. Will continue with a warm and humid forecast along with chance pops. There remains unusually wide divergence among the models concerning the timing of the frontal system Monday night through Tuesday night. Both the gfs and ecmwf have trended slower compared to this time Wednesday. The 12z gfs takes the front across our region on Monday night...while the ecmwf has it coming through Tuesday night. The highest pops will be on Tuesday...mainly in the likely category across our region. Will introduce chance pops for Wednesday based on the slower timing of the system. However...the bulk of the precip should be over by then. The model 850 temps have trended cooler for Wednesday into Thursday by several degrees. Based on model 850 mb temps from plus 1 to plus 4...highs will only be in the 60s even with plenty of sun. Forecast temps will be trended lower for Wed into Thurs. && .AVIATION... Issued at 610 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 Showers were developing over SEMO and heading straight for KCGI. Amended old taf and included mention in new set. These echoes were intensifying and could lay down a strike or two. This convection is expected to dissipate with the loss of daytime heating with the main area moving into the taf sites between 5z and 8z. Also introduced WS overnight as fcst sounding indicate a 40kt SSW flow around 2k feet. Expect mostly MVFR cigs and vsby through most of the valid time of the tafs after the precip moves in. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && UPDATE...DRS AVIATION...KH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 834 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 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- 834 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EVENING...A BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIFT NORTH NORTHEAST THROUGH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...EASTWARD TO INTERSTATE 57 IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. A PERIOD OR TWO OF HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD EASTWARD OVER THE ENTIRE AREA OVERNIGHT. THUNDERSTORM INTENSITY SHOULD DECREASE THROUGH THE NIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTER A MORNING ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...THE ATMOSPHERE SHOULD RECOVER AND DESTABILIZE FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE AREA BY MID AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EARLY EVENING...AS A FRONT APPROACHES SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE PRIMARY HAZARDS. STORM MOTION SHOULD BE EAST NORTHEAST AROUND 40 TO 50 MPH. ON AND OFF CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERSIST OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. THERE MAY BE A BIT OF A LULL ON SATURDAY...OR LIMITED COVERAGE. A FEW STRONG AND POSSIBLY SEVERE STORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT ENTIRELY THROUGH THE PERIOD. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO OCCUR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TONIGHT. ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. DRS/CN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 905 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 ILZ084-085-088-092-093-MOZ076-087-111-112-090230- ALEXANDER IL-CAPE GIRARDEAU MO-JACKSON IL-MISSISSIPPI MO-PERRY MO-PULASKI IL-SCOTT MO-UNION IL-WILLIAMSON IL- 905 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2014 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ALEXANDER...SOUTHWESTERN WILLIAMSON...UNION...WESTERN PULASKI AND JACKSON COUNTIES IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AND EASTERN SCOTT...SOUTHEASTERN PERRY...NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI AND NORTHEASTERN CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI UNTIL 930 PM CDT... AT 858 PM CDT...STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM ALTENBURG TO 8 MILES SOUTH OF WARE TO BERTRAND... AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. LOCATIONS THAT MAY BE IMPACTED INCLUDE... JONESBORO...ANNA...MURPHYSBORO...CARBONDALE...GRAND TOWER... HORSESHOE LAKE CONSERVATION AREA...TAMMS...COBDEN...CEDAR LAKE AREA...MOUNDS...DONGOLA...DE SOTO...GORHAM...MILL CREEK...ALTO PASS...PULASKI...MAKANDA...ULLIN AND VERGENNES. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A STURDY BUILDING. TORRENTIAL RAIN...WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND UNDERPASSES...IS ALSO LIKELY. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ON A FLOODED ROADWAY. DRS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
933 PM CDT THU MAY 08 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0841 PM TSTM WND GST CAPE GIRARDEAU 37.31N 89.55W
05/08/2014 M50 MPH CAPE GIRARDEAU MO ASOS
MEASURED AT THE REGIONAL AIRPORT
&&
SMITTYThe Paducah radar (KPAH), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:33 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 58 mph was estimated by a trained spotter. Pea size hail was also reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2014
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: 510951.