Several weather systems impacted the lower Ohio Valley during the last 10 days of December. Rainfall totals varied from 3 to locally 7 inches across much of the river basin, which resulted in significant rises and minor floods on area rivers, streams and creeks.
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 LMK wrote it up.
Several weather systems impacted the lower Ohio Valley during the last 10 days of December. Rainfall totals varied from 3 to locally 7 inches across much of the river basin, which resulted in significant rises and minor floods on area rivers, streams and creeks.
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 Dec 24, 6:22 PM EST, 2 hours 43 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Louisville KY 622 PM EST THU DEC 24 2015 ...Updated Aviation Discussion... .SHORT TERM (Now through Friday Night)... Issued at 200 PM EST Thu Dec 24 2015 ...Unsettled Weather Returns For Christmas Day... After a brief break from the rains, expect the front which cleared the region overnight to lift back north again as a low-level wind surge develops over the TN Valley towards daybreak Christmas. This should result in rains developing at least along our border with TN. Will bump up pops down there, but keep a sharp gradient as you head north. That gradient should loosen as the day goes along Christmas, with rains filling in quickly through at least the Ohio River, with some question about how far into southern Indiana these rains spread. The front will not move much through Friday night, with subtle waves along the southwest flow aloft helping to spark additional rain chances. Soundings indicate marginal potential for thunder as well, from late tonight through Friday night, so will carry at least a slight chance each period along with those rain chances. Not expecting severe weather, given the forecast inversion in place from model soundings. .LONG TERM (Saturday through Thursday)... Issued at 315 PM EST Thu Dec 24 2015 ...Active Weather Into Next Week... Front still looks to stall over our northern forecast area...or perhaps just north of it...Saturday. That will shift the highest pops to our north that day and night, and it still looks to be quite warm...continuing our well above normal December so far. Saturday should see highs topping out in the 70s for most places, despite the cloud cover and rain chances. Have gone a little with a blend of the MEX and Euro guidance, with a leaning toward the latter for highs Saturday. Should the warm front stall closer to SDF Saturday, that high will be off, but have leaned towards the warm side for now. Models are in pretty good agreement for 84 hours out on the location of an upper moving across western Texas by the end of the day Sunday. That pattern would keep most of our area in a wet regime given the residual front and moisture streaming in ahead of the low. Thus will have likely to categorical pops. The exact location of the front will make temp forecasts trickier this day, as it looks to be more somewhere over the middle of our forecast area. Thus have gone with readings in the upper 50s in our north and around 70 in our Lake Cumberland zones. As we continue into Monday, models continue to be in pretty good agreement on a surface low moving from eastern Texas into the lower Ohio River Valley. That should make for windier conditions through the day and possibly another round of severe weather later in the day Monday, depending on where the warm sector ends up. The strengthening wind profile should make for a tighter temperature gradient, with highs in the mid 40s in our north to lower 60s in our south. Either way, our rain chances stay up this period, and we do not start to dry out from the heavier QPF some until Tuesday morning. Even then though, models are showing some wrap around showers behind the departing low. Thus have kept in chance rains for the day Tuesday. We dry out only briefly again before another quick-moving disturbance brings rain chances back Wednesday. This one will have less moisture to work with so have gone with slight to low-end chance pops for now through Thursday. Temperatures these last two days should end up closer to normal for highs, though lows likely will stay above given the cloud cover. Total rainfall from tonight through the middle of next week could trend toward 5 inches across portions of the area. These repeated rounds of moderate to occasionally heavy rainfall could pose flooding problems, including rivers. For SDF (LEX), the forecast rainfall totals would bring us up to #3 (#4) for the all time wettest year. Will be issuing a Hydrologic Outlook to talk about flood concerns this period. && .AVIATION (00Z TAF Update)... Updated at 622 PM EST Thu Dec 24 2015 A weak cold front will slip southward across Kentucky tonight and then become nearly stationary across the Tennessee Valley for the remainder of the period. High pressure off the East Coast will pump Gulf moisture northward, resulting in rain and low ceilings along and either side of the frontal zone late tonight through Christmas Day. Low ceilings will also develop, with most of the holiday mired in gray IFR ceilings and light BR, especially at BWG. SDF will be on the northwest edge of the main cloud and precip area, and may struggle into low-end MVFR for the afternoon hours. Winds will be light and variable through the period. && .LMK Watches/Warnings/Advisories... KY...NONE. IN...NONE. && Short Term........RJS Long Term.........RJS Aviation..........13
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 326 PM EST THU DEC 24 2015 INZ076>079-083-084-089>092-KYZ023>043-045>049-053>057-061>067- 070>078-081-082-252030- ORANGE-WASHINGTON-SCOTT-JEFFERSON-DUBOIS-CRAWFORD-PERRY-HARRISON- FLOYD-CLARK-HANCOCK-BRECKINRIDGE-MEADE-OHIO-GRAYSON-HARDIN-BULLITT- OLDHAM-TRIMBLE-HENRY-SHELBY-FRANKLIN-SPENCER-ANDERSON-WOODFORD- FAYETTE-BOURBON-NICHOLAS-NELSON-MERCER-JESSAMINE-LARUE-MARION-BOYLE- GARRARD-MADISON-BUTLER-EDMONSON-HART-GREEN-TAYLOR-CASEY-LINCOLN- LOGAN-WARREN-SIMPSON-ALLEN-BARREN-MONROE-METCALFE-ADAIR-RUSSELL- CUMBERLAND-CLINTON- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PAOLI...ORLEANS...FRENCH LICK...SALEM... SCOTTSBURG...AUSTIN...MADISON...JASPER...HUNTINGBURG...BROWNSTOWN... MILLTOWN...MARENGO...TELL CITY...CORYDON...NEW ALBANY... JEFFERSONVILLE...CLARKSVILLE...LEWISPORT...HAWESVILLE... HARDINSBURG...IRVINGTON...CLOVERPORT...BRANDENBURG...MULDRAUGH... BEAVER DAM...HARTFORD...LEITCHFIELD...ELIZABETHTOWN...RADCLIFF... FORT KNOX...MOUNT WASHINGTON...SHEPHERDSVILLE...HILLVIEW...BROOKS... LOUISVILLE...LA GRANGE...BUCKNER...CRESTWOOD...PEWEE VALLEY... BEDFORD...MILTON...EMINENCE...NEW CASTLE...PLEASUREVILLE... CAMPBELLSBURG...SHELBYVILLE...FRANKFORT...GEORGETOWN...CYNTHIANA... TAYLORSVILLE...LAWRENCEBURG...VERSAILLES...LEXINGTON...PARIS... CARLISLE...BARDSTOWN...SPRINGFIELD...HARRODSBURG...NICHOLASVILLE... WILMORE...WINCHESTER...HODGENVILLE...LEBANON...DANVILLE... LANCASTER...RICHMOND...BEREA...MORGANTOWN...BROWNSVILLE... HORSE CAVE...MUNFORDVILLE...GREENSBURG...CAMPBELLSVILLE...LIBERTY... STANFORD...RUSSELLVILLE...BOWLING GREEN...FRANKLIN...PROVIDENCE... SCOTTSVILLE...GLASGOW...TOMPKINSVILLE...EDMONTON...COLUMBIA... RUSSELL SPRINGS...JAMESTOWN...BURKESVILLE...ALBANY 326 PM EST THU DEC 24 2015 /226 PM CST THU DEC 24 2015/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL ARE LIKELY FRIDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK AS THE WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES TO BE VERY ACTIVE. 4 TO LOCALLY 6 INCHES OF RAIN COULD FALL BETWEEN FRIDAY AND TUESDAY. THIS MAY POSE FLOODING PROBLEMS...INCLUDING RIVERS. IN ADDITION...STRONG STORMS ARE POSSIBLE MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. MAIN THREAT WOULD BE GUSTY WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT RAINFALL REPORTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. RJS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
354 PM EST THU DEC 24 2015
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1004 PM TSTM WND GST 4 ESE BLACK GNAT 37.27N 85.38W
12/23/2015 E90 MPH TAYLOR KY NWS STORM SURVEY
AN NWS STORM SURVEY CONCLUDED 90-100 MPH
WINDS CAUSED DAMAGE TO SIX BARNS AND AN RV
IN WESTERN TAYLOR COUNTY.
&&
KJDThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several heavy rain events during late December brought widespread 3 to 5 inch rainfall totals to the area. This resulted in the Rolling Fork River near Boston to go into minor flood. The river crested at 39.27 feet, 4.27 feet above its flood stage, late on December 27th.
Several heavy rain events during late December resulted in widespread 3 to 5 inch rainfall totals across central Kentucky. This brought the Green River at Woodbury into flood, cresting at 39.6 feet, 6.6 feet above flood stage. The crest occurred on December 28 and the river dropped below flood stage on December 31.
Several heavy rain events resulted in widespread 3 to 5 inches of rain across the Green River basin. This brought the Green River at Brownsville into minor flood. The river crested at 19.74 feet late on December 27th.
Several heavy rain events in late December brought 3 to locally 6 inches of rain to the area. This resulted in minor flooding on the Green River at Munfordville. The river crested at 28.27 feet on December 27th.
Several heavy rain events during late December brought the Licking River at Blue Licks Spring into minor flood. The river crested at 25.19 feet, barely above its 25 foot flood stage, on December 28.
Several heavy rain events during the last week of December brought anywhere from 3 to locally 6 inches of rain to the area. This resulted in the Rough River near Dundee to go into minor flood and the river crested at 26.72 feet on December 29.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, December 2015
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: 606452, 606453, 606446, 606444, 606451, 606447.