A cluster of thunderstorms developed along a stationary front that was draped along the Ohio River from southwest Indiana to the southern tip of Illinois. The storms occurred in a hot and humid air mass during the heat of the afternoon.
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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 cluster of thunderstorms developed along a stationary front that was draped along the Ohio River from southwest Indiana to the southern tip of Illinois. The storms occurred in a hot and humid air mass during the heat of the afternoon. Winds aloft averaged around 20 knots from the west to northwest. A couple of storms produced wind damage, and isolated flooding occurred.
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 1, 10:59 AM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Paducah KY 1159 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 1159 AM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 Aviation update. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Wednesday night) Issued at 153 AM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 Radar mosaic shows upstream convection over central MO, with Satellite pics showing cooling tops to overnight MCS. Loop movement reveals back building and overlay of 1000-500 mb thicknesses paints difluent thermal field over PAH FA. Thus, MCS should continue its back building tendency thru daylight, with skirting pops on our northern and western fringe counties. Warm front that arcs across our northeast may continue to be focus of isolated to widely scattered cells, however, as piece mealed energy ejected out from primary MCS interacts with boundary. As the synoptic scale ridge builds to our west, we'll see with time, the thermal field back and lose its difluence over time today over the PAH FA, as we warm sector. As a result, we'll see some positive vorticity advection later today diving se overtop the ridge and across our northern/eastern counties, markedly upping pops there to mid or high chance, tapering to slight chance southward and westward across the remainder of the FA closer to the higher heights over SEMO/Ozarks. Tuesday could bear a close resemblance to Monday with regard to Pops, as does Monday night to Tuesday night, when MCS development and advection will be closer to more impact across the mid Ms valley and across the PAH FA, so we'll carry pops thru all of the short term periods to balance the account. The persistent building of heights incoming from the west keeps building the heat/humidity as well, with Heat Indices still forecast to approach or exceed triple digits each day this week. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Sunday) Issued at 153 AM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 A deep-layer subtropical high will be centered over the Mid- Mississippi and Lower Ohio Valley regions on Thursday and Friday. Oppressive heat indices will be the primary weather concern during this time period. Over the weekend, the high will be suppressed a bit to the south and west as a result of increased troughing over the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast states. A weak cold front will likely sag south or southwest into the Lower Ohio Valley during the weekend. This will result in increased chances of thunderstorms, along with slightly lower heat indices. Thursday through Friday, isolated to scattered convection underneath the ridge should be primarily diurnally driven. The air mass will be very moist and unstable, but the lack of forcing should keep the best precip chances confined mostly to the heat of the day. Heat indices will be a potential concern given forecast dew points in the mid 70s. Forecast 850 mb temps in the lower 20s support sfc highs in the mid 90s both days. However, similar air masses this summer have yielded slightly lower temps due to the effects of convective clouds/precip. The upcoming weekend could end up very similar to this past weekend. A weak/poorly defined frontal boundary is likely to sag southward into the Lower Ohio Valley and southeast Missouri. The front should provide the focus for scattered thunderstorms, along with toned down heat indices. && .AVIATION... Issued at 1159 AM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 Kept TAFs generally VFR with light winds. Some MVFR cigs possible this afternoon through 20-21z Band of convection from KEVV to just east of KCEY will continue east. From 00z on...confidence too low to include convective chances in the TAFs. && .PAH Watches/Warnings/Advisories... IL...None. MO...None. IN...None. KY...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 225 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-021000- JEFFERSON-WAYNE IL-EDWARDS-WABASH-PERRY IL-FRANKLIN-HAMILTON- WHITE-JACKSON-WILLIAMSON-SALINE-GALLATIN-UNION-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- 225 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY MOST STORMS, WHILE ISOLATED STRONGER STORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS OR HAIL. PATCHY FOG MAY RESTRICT VISIBILITY EARLY TODAY AND LATE TONIGHT BUT WILL BURN OFF QUICKLY ONCE DAYLIGHT BEGINS. THE HEAT INDEX WILL APPROACH AND MAY EXCEED TRIPLE DIGITS ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN KENTUCKY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY DAILY CHANCES FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. ISOLATED STRONGER STORMS MIGHT PACK A PUNCH OF GUSTY WIND OR HAIL AS WELL. THE HEAT INDEX WILL AGAIN APPROACH OR EXCEED TRIPLE DIGITS EACH AFTERNOON DURING THE WORK WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER REPORTS OF STORM ACTIVITY ARE APPRECIATED.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1033 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 KYZ005>013-015>017-020>022-011700- MCCRACKEN-GRAVES-LIVINGSTON-MARSHALL-CALLOWAY-CRITTENDEN-LYON- TRIGG-CALDWELL-WEBSTER-HOPKINS-CHRISTIAN-MCLEAN-MUHLENBERG-TODD- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PADUCAH...MAYFIELD...SYMSONIA...LOWES... SMITHLAND...BENTON...HARRIS GROVE...KIRKSEY...MURRAY... NEW CONCORD...MARION...EDDYVILLE...CADIZ...CANTON...LINTON... ROCKCASTLE...PRINCETON...FRYER...DIXON...MADISONVILLE... HOPKINSVILLE...CALHOUN...GREENVILLE...ALLEGRE...CLIFTY...ELKTON... GUTHRIE 1033 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 AT 1030 AM...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WEST KENTUCKY EXTENDED FROM MARION TO PADUCAH TO MAYFIELD. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AROUND 25 MPH. THROUGH NOON...AS THE STORMS CONTINUE EAST...SOME OF THE STRONGER ACTIVITY COULD RESULT IN GUSTY WINDS 30 TO 40 MPH. THE STORMS WILL PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. HOWEVER WITH THE ACTIVITY MOVING ALONG FLOODING CONCERNS SEEM MINIMAL. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL AFFECT AREAS FROM CALVERT CITY TO BENTON...EDDYVILLE AND EVENTUALLY PRINCETON. CN
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 5 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:14 UTC.
3 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were blown down. One tree landed on a house, causing minor damage. The damage occurred just south of Kentucky Highway 305 and west of Highway 998, west of the Paducah city limits.
Several trees were blown down. One tree fell on a church, damaging part of the building.
Flash flooding of portions of U.S. Highway 45 was reported in Paducah. A county road in the Lone Oak area was washed out, leaving a large hole in the roadway. Water was reported over several roads. The National Weather Service office in Paducah measured 2.43 inches of rain in 50 minutes.
A secondary road was washed out just north of Symsonia. A culvert was washed out, leaving a deep channel at least 10 feet deep.
Six inches of water was reported over U.S. Highway 62 near the Purchase Parkway. Water was over a county road several miles south of Gilbertsville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, August 2016
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: 650240, 650241, 650390, 654133, 650392.