Good Thursday to one and all. On the 40th anniversary of the Super Outbreak of 1974, we are tracking the potential for severe thunderstorms across Kentucky. The storms will come at us in waves today into tonight and this action could cause some issues.
Rounds of storms will work across the state today. Any storm that goes up will have the potential for damaging winds and large hail. Isolated tornadoes will also be possible. A strong cold front will sweep across the state on Friday. We are likely to see a squall line of storms developing along this front in central and eastern Kentucky. Damaging winds look to be the main player with that scenario.
I have you all set to track today’s severe weather potential…
Today’s Risk Area
Current Watches
Possible Watch Areas 
Hamburg Area from WKYT Studio
Lexington
I-75 @ Winchester Road Lexington
I-75 @ Iron Works Pike Lexington
I-75 @ Clays Ferry Bridge South Between Lexington and Richmond
US 60 @ US 127 Frankfort
US 127 @ Frankfort Frankfort
View of Downtown
Cynthiana
I-75 at MP 36 London
I-71/I-75 at Buttermilk Pike Near Covington
I-71/I-75 at Mt. Zion Rd.
Near Covington
I-64 @ 3rd St. Exit Louisville
Downtown Louisville @ 2nd & Broadway Louisville
I-65 @ 234 Near Bowling Green
I-24 MP 7 @ US 62
Paducah
I will have updates as needed and will be sending out rapid fire updates via twitter. Follow me: @kentuckyweather .
Make it a great day and take care.
Great work, Chris, as always! Just wanted to point out in your blog post it’s actually Thursday, not Wednesday. 😉 Keep up the great work friendly weatherdude :), I’ll be following your blog as usual for today’s weather.
It’s Thursday ain’t it?
Pretty sure winter has taken its toll on our poor weary weather dude… It’s definitely Thursday. 🙂
I figured he got to go to the final 4..
Would have rather had sun today but I’ll take the warmth at least
Forty years ago today…I am told I was being held in my Father’s arms as he stood in our living room and watched a funnel cloud race by from left-to-right. That was likely the supercell that spawned tornado #55 of the outbreak in far southern Ohio. Dad definitely was “weather aware” in those days given his house was destroyed by an F4 twister in April, 1968 (nobody was home at the time).
Thoughts go out to those folks who retain ugly memories of that dark day.
Correction…tornado #56 if you go by this map of the Super Outbreak: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lmk/03april74/entire_outbreak.jpg
Not really sure of the actual tornado number. 76 and 77 probably. I just remember standing on the front porch and seeing two (2) funnel clouds. I was 7. We rushed to the cellar which was beside the house. We heard so much noise and it was all my uncles could do to keep the door closed. When we came out several hours later there were hay straws stuck in the side of our house. We still had a house and our neighbor didn’t. I was weather hooked from that moment.
Little drizzle here in knott co this morning sun out bright now
I hate the thunderstorms but this rain will be good for the wildflowers ! Has anyone heard about Wildflower Discovery Weekend in the Big South Fork? Has anyone spent much time in the Big South Fork ??? Now that the weather is getting nicer . . . . ..
Question. Are there any other good sites besides mesonet to look at precip gauges/ daily rainfall..?
you can visit http://www.wunderground.com some folks have their own Personal Weather Station that reports to their site
Wow, it actually feels just as warm as Tuesday. You can definitely sense the higher humidity in the air with dew points in the 60s. Tuesday had mid to upper 70s but dew points in the 30s and 40s. Not too bad out there but a line of storms are on their way with some pop ups ahead of the line and some sunshine.
Thanks Chris. Just back to work after a bout with an ugly stomach bug, so I missed most of the past two beautiful days. 🙁 Today started out with some rain but we have partly cloudy skies here in Somerset at the moment. Radar is looking kind of wicked though, to the north and west. Guess we will see what the rest of the day brings….
I was working at a radio station here in town during the tornado outbreak of ’74. I remember it very well, I was a college student and the program director came in and took me off the air and sent me home. (I lived a county away from the station) Just as I turned into my driveway, I saw a funnel cloud. It came up the holler beside our house. We were fortunate that it did not touch down, but many in my county were not so lucky. I really hope the weather doesn’t not do a repeat of that.
Everyone have a great and SAFE day! Thanks for all you do to keep us safe, Chris.
Sorry, meant to type does NOT do a repeat of that. Brain still recovering from the bug, I guess. 😉
The Storm Prediction Center now has an ongoing Mesoscale Discussion; a 80% chance of a new tornado watch, which could include far western Kentucky.
…and sure enough, Tornado Watch now in effect for far western KY until 7pm CDT.
April 3 1974 was a decade before I was born. But when I was a WKU student back in the late 2000s, one of my friends was majoring in meteorology. Turned out he had a great-uncle in 1970s Brandenburg. Their home was missed by just a few blocks by the 74 tornado. All family members were ok, but they knew many neighbors that did not survive. Thirty one died in Meade County alone from that F5 tornado, most of those within Brandenburg.
http://www.april31974.com/
Hopefully, the language used by the SPC concerning the Watch box in far west KY means that the tornado threat is not as robust as initially thought. Looking at probabilities, still at least a 50% chance for tornadoes within the watch box but wind and hail threat are slightly less compared to the present watch box across Arkansas and southern MO. In other words, at least it’s not a PDS watch.
It does seem the tornado threat will wane at least somewhat – if not completely – the farther east you go. Especially as the main storms reach east KY. Among other things, seems there will be less upper level shear farther east.
But storms often become less tornadic anyway in east KY south of I-64, as the rising terrain there hurts dewpoints and LCL levels (click link here) needed for good tornado genesis (March 2 2012 was of course a big exception to this rule).
BTW, the SPC website is down 🙁 .
I never knew that rising terrain had anything to do with dew points. Shows how much I know.
I think I remember we had an insane dew point of 81 or 82 in Lexington one summer and it was so hot that summer.
Regarding the NWS weather.gov, in certain parts of that site, I’m getting DNS error.
Several sources (including a NWS Jackson KY meteorologist) explained to me years ago that as moving air near ground level is lifted by rising terrain, dewpoint temps tend to drop and LCLs rise. High dewpoints (near ground level) and low LCLs are needed for tornadic storms. Even if conditions high up in the atmosphere remain ideal, that can be negated somewhat if conditions near the ground become less favorable. Apparently a big reason for the relative lack of twisters in southeast KY, around Mt Mitchell in North Carolina, etc.
Of course mountains have no real effect on those twisters that do touch down, contrary to popular misconception.
PS: I had not even heard of an LCL, had to look it up at the time 😉 .
storm is a comin!!!!!
still waiting on the old school we were suppose to have in March 😉
Must be a dome over southeast Ky. It’s rained everywhere but here.
rained here this AM between 3 am and 8 am
Tornado watch cancelled for far western KY
Yes, some good news. Although the strongest storms are still in MO and AR. Multiple Tornado Watches cover lots of real estate to our west, although relatively few Tornado Warnings have been issued so far. Hopefully these storms will lose some of their tornadic nature as they enter KY/TN, although renewed tornado watches can’t be ruled out.
Also, SPC says in a ongoing Mesoscale Discussion that a possible new watch for east KY is unlikely. While some of these storms have put down some strong winds and such, only a few Severe Thunderstorm Warnings have been issued and these storms are expected to weaken.
Garden variety storms in frankfort so far, weak compared to some areas, 1/2 inch of rain so far, nothing wild going to happen here!
had 2 inches of rain in Jackson county, Annville area.
The only rain we had was the .4 we got this early morning.
Tornado Watch reissued for western KY, alot of tornado warnings are now coming out west of the area!!
A new Tornado Watch now out for western parts of both KY and TN, as well as in Illinois and Indiana.
In fact, a couple of current Tornado Warnings in the effected area. Even a Tornado Warning for Butler County KY which is just outside the watch area.
Sorry Chris(somerset), saw your post but then forgot that you had posted!