Hail — Warren, Kentucky

1998-04-16 · near Bowling Green, Warren, Kentucky

Wider weather episode

A large classic supercell thunderstorm moved from northern Logan county through central parts of Warren, Barren and Metcalfe counties and then into western Adair county. A swath of large hail accompanied the storm across Logan and Warren counties and correlated well with maximum KLVX WSR-88D composite reflectivities. Many places along the route of the storm reported baseball size hail. Bowling Green was particularly devastated by the storm with incredible damage to all area car lots, all police cars, homes and Western Kentucky University. Every car dealership and rent-a-car lot had all of their cars totaled. In all, 8,300 homes, 900 mobile homes, 4,000 vehicles, 37 businesses, and 14 apartments sustained major damage. Minor damage was reported to 1,300 homes, 6,000 vehicles, 42 businesses and 4 churches. Most of this damage was attributed to the hail as opposed to the F1 tornado that passed just to the south of Bolwing Green. In fact the total damage attributed to hail was estimated at at least 510 million dollars. Several people also received minor injuries from being struck by the hail.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.9800, -86.6200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5639027. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.