Flash Flood — Whitley, Kentucky

2024-09-22 · near Woodbine, Whitley, Kentucky

Event narrative

An amateur radio operator relayed a report that water was flowing over KY-1064 by Sargent's Pay Lake. Fire Department was on scene and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet had been notified.

Wider weather episode

An unusually hot and humid airmass for late September set up over the Cumberland River basin on September 22nd in the wake of a warm front. Temperatures approached record highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s during the afternoon hours. Within the resulting moderate instability environment, slow-moving and merging thunderstorms developed and affected locations mainly east of Corbin at the start of the evening. The initial cell was strong enough to cause wind damage near Rockholds. The cell then slowed to a crawl and back-built for the next hour or so, torrentially dropping an estimated 2 to 3 inches of rainfall and leading to at least one instance of flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.8774, -84.0744)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1218307. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.