Advertisement

Saturday Could Bring Mix of Rain, Severe Weather

Saturday Could Bring Mix of Rain, Severe Weather
Advertisement
By West Kentucky Star Staff
Feb. 22, 2019 | PADUCAH
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 22, 2019 | 10:53 AM | PADUCAH
Forecasters are predicting significant rainfall across the area on Saturday, with possible severe weather also in the picture during the afternoon and evening hours.

Lead Hydrologist Mary Lamb at the National Weather Service Paducah office says one to two inches of rain are expected in parts of western Kentucky Friday night into Saturday morning. She said Saturday afternoon is a bit harder to call, but another one to two inches could fall during that time, with some areas receiving higher amounts where storms pass over.

"Most of [the rain] is going to come tonight as the warm front is lifting through the area. Toward sunrise tomorrow is when we might see some of our heavier rains," Lamb said. "Overnight we're looking at probably one to two inches of rain to fall. It's going to be very convective tomorrow afternoon, so exactly where some of that heavier rain falls is still questionable at this time. We could pick up another one to two inches easily with it, and there could be some isolated areas even greater than that."

The NWS continues its flash flood watch in effect from Friday evening through Saturday night for all of western Kentucky and Tennessee, extreme southern and southeastern Illinois, and the Missouri Bootheel. 

The Storm Prediction Center has placed the entire region in a slight risk of severe thunderstorms on Saturday, with areas south of the Kentucky-Tennessee line being placed in the enhanced risk zone. 

The greatest period of concern for severe weather across the region for severe weather according to NWS Paducah Lead Forecaster Chris Knowles will be Saturday afternoon through early evening. He said some areas could see hurricane force winds, and even a strong tornado.

"The parameters are awful concerning," He said. "It'll just be a matter of how much activity is going on in the afternoon. Will that kind of turn over the atmosphere and use up the available potential energy, or will we have a quiet period and then all that available energy can be acted upon by the redevelopment say from two or three o'clock to six or seven o'clock. If that happens, we should have severe weather." 

Knowles added that supersaturated ground conditions from recent downpours increase the likelihood of trees being blown over by storms. This makes power outages more likely in the area as the front moves through.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement


Latest McCracken County
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest McCracken County

Advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT