Thunderstorm Wind — Graves, Kentucky

2016-06-15 · near Symsonia, Graves, Kentucky

Event narrative

A 56-year-old man was killed when a tree fell onto the cab of his truck. The truck struck a fallen tree along Highway 534, and then continued along the road until another tree fell on the truck cab and crushed it. Dozens of trees were uprooted or snapped. This vehicle fatality occurred near the beginning of a microburst damage path. The damage path width was about one mile. Peak winds in this portion of the damage path were estimated near 80 mph. The microburst continued eastward into Marshall County.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms rapidly developed over southern Illinois and southeast Missouri along a remnant outflow boundary from earlier storms. Aided by a weak mid-level disturbance with enhanced wind flow aloft, lines and clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms intensified as they progressed southeastward within an increasingly unstable environment. Numerous storms produced damaging wind gusts. Surface dew points in the mid to upper 70's increased the rainfall rates in the storms, resulting in a few flooding reports.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.8766, -88.5200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 634756. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.