Thunderstorm Wind — Laurel, Kentucky

2024-08-01 · near Lesbas, Laurel, Kentucky

Event narrative

Laurel county dispatch reported a tree down and electrical wires, leading to a fire on Skyline View, located on the southeast side of London.

Wider weather episode

On the morning of Thursday August the 1st, a warm front was draped across portions of the state. The airmass was warm across the state, and storms were already firing off across portions of the state, including eastern Kentucky by 7am. However, the real action would come later in the day. A cold front located across Illinois, still well away from Kentucky, produced a line of storms along it during the morning hours. This line of storms gained strength, becoming a squall line and quickly dropping southeast. It reached central Kentucky by the early evening hours, then eastern Kentucky a couple hours later. By the time it got to eastern Kentucky, the line began to lose it's form, but embedded cells still packed a punch, resulting in numerous warnings across the CWA and just as many reports of wind damage. It began to regain it's linear shape by the time it reached the far eastern portion of the state, finally exiting just between 10 and 11pm EDT.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.1002, -84.0308)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1210931. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.