Thunderstorms produced isolated flash flooding. The storms occurred in the vicinity of a 500 mb trough that extended from the eastern Great Lakes southwest across the lower Ohio Valley.
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.
Thunderstorms produced isolated flash flooding. The storms occurred in the vicinity of a 500 mb trough that extended from the eastern Great Lakes southwest across the lower Ohio Valley. The convection itself was induced by a remnant mesoscale vorticity center that moved eastward from Missouri. The storms formed in an increasingly moist and unstable air mass. The wind flow aloft was weak, causing the storm motion to be driven by mesoscale processes. The storms propagated slowly east to southeast.
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 18, 6:00 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Paducah KY 600 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Monday) Issued at 300 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 A rather well-defined mesoscale circulation center triggered a heavy rain event today, with locally 3 inches in a couple hours over southwestern KY. The circulation has started to lose definition in radar imagery the last hour or so just south of kcgi near the bootheel of Missouri. There has been a decrease in convection as well, however pockets of very heavy rain persist around the periphery of the circulation. Most of the heavy rain was over the Pennyrile region of west KY into se Illinois as of 1930z. As the circulation continues to weaken and daytime heating wanes, precip should gradually diminish this evening. However, the large-scale 500 mb trough that extends from Indiana to northern Missouri will still exert some forcing through the night. A low pop will be kept in the forecast through the early morning hours over se Missouri/western KY/far southern IL. Northeast winds will bring slightly lower dew points overnight to ne counties, mainly sw Indiana. On Monday, the aforementioned large scale 500 mb trough will move south across western KY and southeast MO. This will suppress precip chances further south. The northeast low level flow will become deeper as the surface boundary moves south across Tennessee. A small pop will be kept for areas south of a kcgi to Madisonville line, mainly for isolated afternoon showers or storms. Highs will be warmest in the I-64 corridor, where the most sun is expected. Highs further south should still reach 80, barring any widespread persistent overcast. .LONG TERM...(Monday night through Sunday) Issued at 300 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 Weak high pressure at the surface will finally give us dry conditions Monday night through Wednesday night. Winds will be out of the northeast through Wednesday, gradually turning to the southeast to south by late Wednesday night. High temperatures will be near to a little below normal in the upper 80s, with cooler than normal lows in the middle to upper 60s. By Thursday, an upper level trof will move over the Ohio and middle Mississippi valleys. Small chances of showers and some thunderstorms are expected to return to the entire PAH forecast area Thursday afternoon, with the best chances across west Kentucky, with activity ending by sunset with loss of heating. The same pattern is expected Friday. By Saturday, after a couple of days of south winds bringing in more moisture and with the approach of a cold front, chances of showers and thunderstorms will return in the afternoon and continue through Sunday. The best chances will be Sunday as the front pushes into our region. For now, maxed pops out in the chance category. The south winds Thursday into the weekend will result in seasonable highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s and near to a little above normal lows in the 70 to 75 degree range. With dew points in the lower to middle 70s, some locations may see afternoon heat indices around 100 degrees. && .AVIATION... Issued at 600 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 Scattered lower MVFR to brief IFR cigs this evening south of a KMDH- KOWB line. Showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue this evening. Vicinity mention for now given low confidence of occurrence at the terminals. Overnight into Monday improving conditions. Generally VFR. Light winds will continue through the night, then become ENE 6 to 12 kts Monday. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...None. MO...None. IN...None. KY...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Paducah KY 339 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087- 100-107>112-114-192045- 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- 339 PM CDT Sun Jul 18 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight Pockets of heavy rain with isolated thunderstorms will continue into the early evening hours. Refer to the latest Flood Advisories and possible Flood Warnings for the latest details. The main hazard with any isolated thunderstorms later tonight will be lightning. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday A possibility of isolated thunderstorms exists Monday afternoon near the Arkansas and Tennessee state lines. A small chance of afternoon thunderstorms is forecast Thursday through Saturday. Locally heavy rainfall and lightning will be the primary concerns. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated. However, spotters are requested to report any flooding through this evening. MY
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
212 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1217 PM HEAVY RAIN 3 SSW PATTON 37.46N 90.04W
07/18/2021 M5.08 INCH BOLLINGER MO TRAINED SPOTTER
RAINFALL TOTAL SINCE MIDNIGHT.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
217 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1138 AM FLOOD PADUCAH 37.07N 88.64W
07/18/2021 MCCRACKEN KY PUBLIC
FLOODING REPORTED ON SEVERAL FLOOD-PRONE
STREETS AROUND PADUCAH.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
222 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1120 AM FLOOD 2 SW LONE OAK 37.02N 88.68W
07/18/2021 MCCRACKEN KY NWS EMPLOYEE
STREETS FLOODED IN THE COPPER CREEK
SUBDIVISION.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
229 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0230 AM FLASH FLOOD 3 SW WOODLAWN 38.30N 89.08W
07/17/2021 JEFFERSON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
*** 1 FATAL ***
A VEHICLE TRAVELING SOUTH ON PANZIER LANE
EARLY SATURDAY MORNING WAS SWEPT INTO RAYSE
CREEK, WHICH HAD FLOODED THE ROAD. THE
DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE WAS RECOVERED THIS
MORNING.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
331 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0326 PM HEAVY RAIN EDDYVILLE 37.08N 88.08W
07/18/2021 M1.91 INCH LYON KY TRAINED SPOTTER
RAINFALL SO FAR TODAY.
&&
DWSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
415 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0413 PM HEAVY RAIN 2 SW EVANSVILLE 37.96N 87.57W
07/18/2021 M0.70 INCH VANDERBURGH IN CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER AT THE EVANSVILLE MUSEUM
REPORTS 0.70 INCH OF RAIN FALLING IN ONE
HOUR.
&&
DWSThe Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:03 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water was flowing over and covering Highways 356 and 257 just northwest of Otwell. Several other county roads just outside of Otwell were flooded as well.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, July 2021
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: 968009.