Thunderstorm Wind — Barren, Kentucky

2024-09-24 · near Lucas, Barren, Kentucky

Event narrative

A few trees were blown down near Barren River Lake.

Wider weather episode

During the day on September 23rd, a quasi-stationary front was draped across central Kentucky, with showers and thunderstorms moving along the boundary. South of the front across southern Kentucky, a humid, unstable air mass was present, as temperatures were able to rise into the low-to-mid 80s with dew point temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s. While thunderstorms generally lacked organization as a result of modest wind shear, one or two stronger storms were able to develop in the afternoon, producing isolated wind damage in LaRue and Taylor County.

From the evening of September 23rd into the morning of September 24th, an approaching upper level disturbance caused the surface front to lift back to the north as a warm front, with surface low pressure developing and moving northeast across the mid-Mississippi Valley. By late morning on September 24th, the surface low was near the southern tip of Lake Michigan, with a stronger cold front extending southward into the Ohio Valley. Ahead of the cold front, temperatures were able to warm into the upper 70s and low 80s with dewpoints in the upper 60s and lower 70s, creating an unstable environment supportive of thunderstorm development. During the afternoon and early evening hours, waves of showers and strong-to-severe thunderstorms moved across central Kentucky. Storms were better organized than on the 23rd, as wind shear was stronger given the approaching upper level disturbance. Scattered wind damage and a couple reports of severe hail were received across central Kentucky, with one particularly explosive cell producing golf ball sized hail in Clinton County. The cold front pushed through the region during the early evening hours on the 24th, bringing an end to the severe threat from west to east across the area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.8921, -86.0380)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1215359. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.