3,183 first-hand accounts of flood events in Kentucky, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
During the overnight and early morning hours of Monday, June 20th, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc on portions of eastern KY. Between 2 and 5 am EDT, numerous trees were blown across Laurel, Bell, Knox, and Whitley counties.
Read the full account →Isolated showers and thunderstorms developed late this afternoon into this evening. While these were overall weaker than those that occurred over the previous day or two in this persistent summer-like pattern, the slow movement of the storms led to flash flooding issues in Rowan…
Read the full account →Scattered thunderstorms developed very late this afternoon and early evening as a hot and humid airmass remained in place across eastern Kentucky.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Paducah, 15.91 inches of rain fell in April, which was 10.96 inches above normal.
Read the full account →Widespread flooding continued from April into May across western Kentucky. Following excessive rain in April, a final dose of heavy rain came between April 30 and May 2.
Read the full account →Widespread flooding continued from April into May across western Kentucky. Following excessive rain in April, a final dose of heavy rain came between April 30 and May 2.
Read the full account →Deep moisture anchored across east Kentucky, combined with a stalled frontal boundary, then a cold front, led to several rounds of heavy rain from the evening of September 12th through the early afternoon hours on September 13th.
Read the full account →During a time without any major weather systems moving through the region, a moist atmosphere with differential heating and remaining outflows from earlier thunderstorms was enough for thunderstorms and heavy rain to develop across central Kentucky.
Read the full account →During a time without any major weather systems moving through the region, a moist atmosphere with differential heating and remaining outflows from earlier thunderstorms was enough for thunderstorms and heavy rain to develop across central Kentucky.
Read the full account →Above normal moisture in response to multiple disturbances over the region led to numerous rounds of rain across eastern Kentucky. Many creeks and streams rose out of its banks leading to adjacent roads near the water bodies to be closed.
Read the full account →A deep 500 mb trough over the southwestern states lifted northeast across the central states. A surface low passed east across the lower Mississippi Valley, producing a swath of heavy rain across the lower Ohio Valley.
Read the full account →A potent low pressure system moved through the Midwest Monday, November 5, 2018. Showers and thunderstorms formed out ahead of the cold front trailing from the center of the system.
Read the full account →During this period, upper high pressure remained over the southern United States. At the surface, a couple of cold fronts, riding along upper flow, passed from west to east near the Ohio River.
Read the full account →A nearly stationary corridor of thunderstorms developed from central Kentucky to northwest Tennessee, including Christian and Todd Counties. These storms resulted in excessive rainfall amounts over places that received heavy rain during the early morning severe storms.
Read the full account →A cold front associated with a low pressure system crossed through eastern Kentucky on the evening of June 13th. Damaging wind gusts occurred in several severe thunderstorms that day, which resulted in a few instances of downed trees across Greenup County.
Read the full account →A line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed early this afternoon along and south of the Ohio River, moving into eastern Kentucky during the mid afternoon hours. Sporadic wind damage occurred across Estill County as well as Morgan and Bell Counties.
Read the full account →A thunderstorm complex that formed in the Chicago region during the evening of the 22nd eventually made its way though southeast Ohio. Its southern extent brushed across portions of northeast Kentucky around dawn.
Read the full account →Major flash flooding occurred from the evening of July 6 through the early morning of July 7. A slow-moving thunderstorm complex backed slowly southwestward across western Kentucky and southern Illinois.
Read the full account →A low pressure system strengthened as it moved northeast into the Great Lakes region. A large area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a warm front moved across the region during the afternoon of the 23rd, producing heavy rain and some flash flooding.
Read the full account →A rather strong storm system affected the region around the middle of the month. A cold front moved south of the region and stalled across the Gulf coast states. The front wavered north a little before finally sweeping northeast on the 17th.
Read the full account →Historic flooding occurred along the Green River as a result of widespread rainfall between 5 and 10 inches across central and western Kentucky. Virtually the entire town of Rumsey was evacuated before it was inundated by the Green River.
Read the full account →A warm front moved slowly northward from the Gulf Coast states on the night of the 19th, reaching the lower Ohio Valley on the morning of the 20th. This warm front brought the third widespread heavy rainfall event so far in February.
Read the full account →A low pressure system strengthened as it moved northeast into the Great Lakes region. A large area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a warm front moved across the region during the afternoon of the 23rd, producing heavy rain and some flash flooding.
Read the full account →A stalled cold front over the Mississippi Valley spawned thunderstorms producing heavy rain from northern Mississippi through middle Tennessee and central Kentucky into southern Indiana.
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