A funnel cloud was observed over the Poplar Bluff area. This type of funnel cloud was likely the formative stage of a landspout.
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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.
A funnel cloud was observed over the Poplar Bluff area. This type of funnel cloud was likely the formative stage of a landspout. Landspouts occur when extremely buoyant air is lifted and rotates near the base of a rain shower of thunderstorm. Most landspouts do little damage. The parent shower occurred along a very slow-moving cold front that extended from northwest Arkansas to the Lower Ohio Valley.
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 Jul 3, 5:43 PM CST, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 643 PM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 642 PM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 THE AVIATION SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED FOR THE 00Z TAF ISSUANCE. && .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY) ISSUED AT 227 PM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 576DM LOW OVER NW INDIANA WAS SEEN ON WVAPOR/MODEL OVERLAY WITH A LOBE EXTENDING SW ACROSS MO/IL...HELPING TO TRIGGER HEAT OF THE DAY CONVECTION ONCE AGAIN ACROSS THE REGION. WEAK SHEAR AND MARGINAL LAPSE RATES MEANS LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY HAZARDS. ACTIVITY EXPECTED TO DIMINISH FROM NW TO SE TONIGHT. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FOR SATURDAY. THERE MAY BE ENOUGH LINGERING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FOR ISOLD CONVECTION SRN SECTIONS MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON. THE NAM WAS THROWN OUT FOR SAT NIGHT AS IT SEEMS TOO SLOW WITH A WEAK SRN H5 LOW...AND HOLDING MOISTURE BACK INTO OUR SE COUNTIES. SHOULD BE A MAINLY DRY SATURDAY NIGHT FOLLOWING THE EC/GFS SOLUTIONS. AGAIN JUST A SLIM CHANCE OF CONVECTION S/SE COUNTIES SUNDAY WHERE MARGINAL MOISTURE WILL LINGER. TEMPS ONCE AGAIN A BLEND OF MOS AND EXISTING NUMBERS. .LONG TERM...(SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 227 PM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 USED A BLEND OF THE EC/GFS THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THEN A GEFS/ECENS/NAEFS BLEND FOR THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SUNDAY NIGHT SHOULD BE DRY...MONDAY MORNING PERHAPS AS WELL...WITH POPS INCREASING FROM SW TO NE WITH TIME. SIGNAL FOR DECENT CONVECTIVE CHANCES AND QPF SEEMS TO BE TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SAGS SOUTH INTO THE AREA AND EITHER SLOWS DOWN OR STALLS. WOULD NOT RULE OUT HAVING TO DEAL WITH HEAVY RAIN ONCE AGAIN. TIMING MAY EVENTUALLY BE ADJUSTED ALONG WITH THE WINDOW OF BEST OPPORTUNITY. AFTER THAT...THE ECENS LOOKED MORE LIKE THE GEFS AND EVEN OPERATIONAL GFS...KEEPING MORE OF A SOUTHERLY FLOW REGIME ACROSS THE AREA...AND NOT AS AGGRESSIVE WITH THE PERSISTENT NW FLOW ALOFT. POPS MUCH LOWER THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY GIVEN LOWER CONFIDENCE AND FORECAST LACK OF FRONTAL FOCUS. && .AVIATION... ISSUED AT 642 PM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH AND SURFACE COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO FORCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS INTO THE EVENING. MOST OF THE ACTIVITY SHOULD BE DONE BY 03Z. KCGI AND KOWB HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF EXPERIENCING TS AT THE TERMINAL. WEAK NORTHERLY FLOW AND CLEARING SKIES WILL LEAD TO THE POTENTIAL FOR LOW CLOUD OR FOG DEVELOPMENT LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY. CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPROVE TO VFR BY 15Z. NO CONVECTION IS FORECAST FOR SATURDAY. WINDS WILL BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. MO...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. && UPDATE...DRS AVIATION...DRS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 333 AM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-041000- 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- 333 AM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY AND TONIGHT...WITH THE GREATEST CHANCES NEAR THE ARKANSAS AND TENNESSEE BORDERS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND LIGHTNING WILL BE THE PRIMARY HAZARDS. FLOODING CONTINUES ON AREA RIVERS. REFER TO THE WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SUNDAY NIGHT...THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER ALL OR PART OF THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND DEADLY LIGHTNING APPEAR TO BE THE PRIMARY THREATS AT THIS TIME. FLOODING CONTINUES ON AREA RIVERS. REFER TO THE WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. JP
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
657 PM CDT FRI JUL 03 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0517 PM FLOOD E CROFTON 37.05N 87.48W
07/03/2015 CHRISTIAN KY TRAINED SPOTTER
SIX INCHES OF WATER FLOWING OVER HIGHWAY 800...EAST OF
CROFTON.
0528 PM FLOOD 5 SE CROFTON 37.00N 87.42W
07/03/2015 CHRISTIAN KY TRAINED SPOTTER
WATER OVER THE ROAD AT HIGHWAY 107.
&&
K. SMITHThe Paducah radar (KPAH), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:59 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A funnel cloud was photographed over the southern city limits of Poplar Bluff. Law enforcement personnel visually monitored the progress of the funnel cloud. The parent rain shower producing this funnel cloud moved southward at only 5 mph. No lightning was associated with this weather feature.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, July 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: 586738.