Hail — Ballard, Kentucky

2025-05-16 · near Gum Corners, Ballard, Kentucky

Event narrative

Many reports and pictures of large hail came in from the town of Barlow and just south of it including the largest hailstones estimated at grapefruit size on Circle Drive east of Barlow (4.5'', public report) and just above softball size south of town on Hartman Ln (4.25'', public report). Numerous photos and reports from emergency management and the public of additional hailstones ranged from ping pong ball to baseball size. Many windows were broken as a result of these very large hailstones along with damage to gutters, roof, vehicles, and siding.

Wider weather episode

A 500mb shortwave trough moved across the Upper Midwest with height falls across the Quad State during the afternoon and evening of the 16th. The exit region of a strong (125kt) upper level jet was positioned across the area as well. Low-level winds strengthened during the afternoon to 50kts at 850mb. Following the early AM convection, ample sunshine allowed for a very unstable airmass to develop with CAPE of 3000-4000J/kg with deep layer shear of 65-70kts. Late afternoon, STP peaked at 9 near the Wabash/Ohio River confluence with effective SRH of 300-400m2/s2. Mid-level lapse rates peaked at 8-8.5C/km for much of the Quad State with significant hail parameter of 3-5 mid-afternoon and DCAPE peaking at 1200-1500J/kg. Initial storm formation was discrete with very large hail and tornadoes, with storms becoming more linear later in the evening with the approach of a cold front.

Afternoon supercells produced very large hail, especially in Ballard County, with pictures of hail estimated up to 4.5 inches in/near Barlow with many additional reports of ping pong ball to baseball size hail. Many windows were broken as a result, along with plenty of damage to gutters, roofs, vehicles, and siding. Many reports of ping pong to golf ball size hail with this supercell continued through McCracken County, increasing to tennis ball size in Livingston County. Baseball size hail also occurred south of Princeton in Caldwell County. Three tornadoes occurred with the late afternoon supercells. The southern two were an EF-1 southwest of Lamasco in Lyon County, and an EF-2 which tracked from near Ovil in Christian County to northeast of Allegre in Todd County. The northern tornado was an EF-3 in Union County, the fourth tornado from the supercell which initially produced the EF-4 in Williamson County, Illinois. With the Union County tornado, the worst of the damage was along Robinson Rd and Terre Hill Rd off of US-60 and Wildlife Rd off of KY-56.

During the evening hours, the storms organized into a linear structure, with straight-line wind damage taking over as the primary severe weather hazard. Three notable swaths of straight-line winds occurred: 1. Southeastern Marshall County, 2. Princeton in Caldwell County, and 3. Southwestern Trigg County from Cumberland Shores eastward near Donaldson Creek. Many houses were damaged with these storm lines, particularly in Princeton and Cumberland Shores. Straight-line wind damage was reported in many other parts of Western Kentucky, and one tornado occurred during the evening, an EF-2 south of Hopkinsville.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0314, -89.0639)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1274310. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.