Thunderstorm Wind in Metcalfe County, Kentucky

Trees were down along Summer Shade Road.

During the evening and overnight hours of July 20th into July 21st, strong to severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of an approaching cold front. On the afternoon of July 20th, temperatures surged into the mid-90s across central Kentucky, with dewpoint temperatures reaching the mid-70s. The warm and unstable low levels, combined with mid-level height falls from an approaching trough, allowed for greater than 4000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE across portions of south central Kentucky during the evening hours of July 20th. Despite some boundary layer stabilization during the late evening hours, a low-level jet allowed for convection to sustain itself through the overnight hours, with scattered wind damage being observed mainly across south central Kentucky. While convection was initially fairly discrete in nature, after midnight, an evolution toward one large convective complex was observed, which contributed to additional flash flooding issues across south central Kentucky.