Moderate to heavy rain during the first few days of the month sent the Ohio River above flood stage at Cairo.
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 PAH wrote it up.
Moderate to heavy rain during the first few days of the month sent the Ohio River above flood stage at Cairo.
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 Dec 5, 5:53 AM CST, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Paducah KY 553 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 .UPDATE... Issued at 552 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 Updated aviation discussion for 12Z TAFs. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Friday) Issued at 350 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 The main forecast concerns in the short term include the clearing of clouds today, followed by our next chance for light precipitation on Thursday. The upper level energy responsible for the light snow accumulation in portions of the region Tuesday into Tuesday night was continuing to push east through the Ohio Valley early this morning. As a result, much of the snow shower activity was tapering off. A few flurries cannot be ruled out through early morning, but most of the accumulating snow has come to an end. Drier air will gradually work its way into the area today, resulting in a slow west to east clearing trend. While western portions of the area should see some sunshine later this morning, it may be until mid afternoon before clouds clear the Evansville Tri-State area. Temperatures will be closely tied to cloud trends today. Highs are forecast to reach the lower 40s across much of southeast Missouri, southwest Illinois, and far western Kentucky where more sunshine is expected. Meanwhile, slower clearing will likely keep highs in the 30s across southwest Indiana, southeast Illinois, and the Kentucky Pennyrile. High pressure centered over the Arklatex early this morning will shift east into the Southeast by daybreak Thursday. This will allow for a return to low level south/southwesterly winds tonight into Thursday. As a result, highs on Thursday should manage to reach the 40s across most of the area. A cold front currently positioned across southern Canada will pass southeast across the forecast area Thursday afternoon and evening. As it does, it will bring our next chance for light precipitation. Temperatures through much of the day will be warm enough to support all rain. Precipitation on the back edge could transition to a light wintry mix late Thursday afternoon and evening as colder air filters in behind the front. At this time, little to no impact is expected. A return to dry weather is forecast late Thursday night and Friday as cold high pressure builds south from Canada. .LONG TERM...(Friday night through Tuesday) Issued at 350 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 The 00Z models continue to bounce around with respect to our weekend storm system. They are still struggling to converge to a solution on the intensity and track of the initial upper low, and on its interaction with two northern stream disturbances. Confidence remains the highest with the initial storm system that will move into our region Saturday night into Sunday. It will have a strong surface low pressure center clipping the Florida Panhandle and into southern Georgia. Saturday night into Sunday is when it is most likely that moisture could be wrapped up into at least our southern border areas. In general, we would prefer the surface low be a little bit farther north for us to get a major deformation zone snow event. Of course, there will likely be a sharp northern edge to the accumulating precipitation, and that edge is likely to be somewhere across the southern half of our area. Later Sunday, the surface system reaches the southeast Atlantic Coast, while the original upper storm system merges with or gets absorbed into the first of two northern stream systems. The models generally merge the systems over our region. By Sunday night, the surface system is along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, and it will be difficult for moisture to stream all the way back into our area. The ECMWF in particular creates a very deep upper low over our area Sunday night and keeps significant precipitation over us through Monday. It would be foolish at this point to jump on that strong ECMWF solution into Monday given the interactions that are needed to get there. We decided to go with the WPC QPF through the event, which seems to represent our thinking pretty well at this point. Precipitation will slowly spread northeast across the southern half of the region Friday night through Saturday, where it will linger through Saturday night before coming to an end from the west Sunday through Sunday night. Total liquid-equivalent QPF ranges from near a half inch along the southern border to around a quarter inch from Cape Girardeau to Paducah to Madisonville, to less than a tenth of an inch over the northern half of the area. The 00Z GFS develops a modest warm layer over west Kentucky Saturday night as the surface system passes due south of the area. This may be a bit far-fetched, but we will have some mixture of snow, sleet (partially melted snow), and rain/freezing rain, mainly Saturday night. Storm total snowfall will generally be 1-3" across the southern half of the area with under an inch in the north. Ice accumulations are negligible. The details of this winter storm system are likely to be difficult to pin down very far ahead, so be prepared for significant forecast adjustments as it unfolds. North winds will keep us cool through at least Monday. But, as a ridge aloft builds over the region Tuesday, south winds will develop. This should lead to somewhat warmer temperatures with lots of sunshine expected. The models diverge heading into next Wednesday when there is some potential for another storm system to bring showers to the region in the afternoon/evening. && .AVIATION... Issued at 552 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 Primarily VFR conditions are expected through the forecast period, though ceilings may teeter on MVFR this morning in eastern areas (KEVV/KOWB) where snow flurries remain possible. Gradual clearing will take place from west to east today, reaching KCGI/KPAH by late morning and KEVV/KOWB around mid afternoon. Westerly winds at 5 to 10 knots today will become south/southwest tonight as high pressure shifts southeast of the area. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...None. MO...None. IN...None. KY...None. && UPDATE...RJP SHORT TERM...RJP LONG TERM...DRS AVIATION...RJP
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Paducah KY 441 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-061100- 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- 441 AM CST Wed Dec 5 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday Periods of snow are forecast mainly over the southern half of the region Friday evening through Sunday night. A wintry mix and even some rain will be possible at times over west Kentucky. At this time, there remains considerable forecast uncertainty, making it difficult to speculate on any accumulations and impacts. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
745 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 AM HEAVY SNOW FORT BRANCH 38.25N 87.57W
12/05/2018 M3.0 INCH GIBSON IN TRAINED SPOTTER
REPORT RELAYED VIA TWITTER.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
746 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0732 AM SNOW 2 N HOPKINSVILLE 36.88N 87.49W
12/05/2018 M1.0 INCH CHRISTIAN KY TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
813 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM SNOW 4 ESE CHRISNEY 37.99N 86.97W
12/05/2018 M1.5 INCH SPENCER IN TRAINED SPOTTER
MEASURED IN THE NEWTONVILLE COMMUNITY. REPORT RELAYED VIA
TWITTER.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
849 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0645 AM SNOW 1 SW SANTA CLAUS 38.10N 86.94W
12/05/2018 M2.5 INCH SPENCER IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-SP-2, SANTA CLAUS IN 1
WSW. THE DURATION OF THE SNOW EVENT WAS 24
HOURS.
0700 AM SNOW FRANCISCO 38.33N 87.45W
12/05/2018 M2.1 INCH GIBSON IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-GB-9, FRANCISCO IN 0.1
SE. THE DURATION OF THE SNOW EVENT WAS 24
HOURS.
0630 AM SNOW 6 ENE SPURGEON 38.28N 87.15W
12/05/2018 M2.0 INCH PIKE IN CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION STDI3, STENDAL IN.
THE DURATION OF THE SNOW EVENT WAS 24 HOURS.
0554 AM SNOW 1 NW MELODY HILL 38.04N 87.53W
12/05/2018 M1.1 INCH VANDERBURGH IN ASOS
ASOS STATION EVV, EVANSVILLE IN. THE
DURATION OF THE SNOW EVENT WAS 24 HOURS.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
907 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0729 AM HEAVY SNOW ALBION 38.37N 88.06W
12/05/2018 M1.0 INCH EDWARDS IL PUBLIC
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
934 AM CST WED DEC 5 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 AM HEAVY SNOW FORT BRANCH 38.25N 87.57W
12/05/2018 M3.0 INCH GIBSON IN TRAINED SPOTTER
REPORT RELAYED VIA TWITTER.
0645 AM SNOW 1 SW SANTA CLAUS 38.10N 86.94W
12/05/2018 M2.5 INCH SPENCER IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-SP-2, SANTA CLAUS IN 1
WSW.
0700 AM SNOW FRANCISCO 38.33N 87.45W
12/05/2018 M2.1 INCH GIBSON IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-GB-9, FRANCISCO IN 0.1
SE.
0630 AM SNOW 6 ENE SPURGEON 38.28N 87.15W
12/05/2018 M2.0 INCH PIKE IN CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION STDI3, STENDAL IN.
0600 AM SNOW 4 ESE CHRISNEY 37.99N 86.97W
12/05/2018 M1.5 INCH SPENCER IN TRAINED SPOTTER
MEASURED IN THE NEWTONVILLE COMMUNITY.
REPORT RELAYED VIA TWITTER.
0554 AM SNOW 1 NW MELODY HILL 38.04N 87.53W
12/05/2018 M1.1 INCH VANDERBURGH IN ASOS
ASOS STATION EVV, EVANSVILLE IN.
0729 AM HEAVY SNOW ALBION 38.37N 88.06W
12/05/2018 M1.0 INCH EDWARDS IL PUBLIC
0732 AM SNOW 2 N HOPKINSVILLE 36.88N 87.49W
12/05/2018 M1.0 INCH CHRISTIAN KY TRAINED SPOTTER
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding occurred along the Ohio River. Low-lying woods and fields were inundated, including some state park property.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, December 2018
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: 794058.