Flash Flood — Edmonson, Kentucky

2019-02-23 · near Huff, Edmonson, Kentucky

Event narrative

A bridge on Blackgold-Grassland Road had to be closed due to high water.

Wider weather episode

On February 19, 2019, a broad upper trough dipped south to the Gulf of Mexico and carried abundant amounts of moisture towards the Ohio Valley. Once the moisture was transport was underway, isentropic lift caused 1.5 to 3 of rainfall along the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. The higher amounts went as far north as south central Indiana.

On the 20th, an upper trough axis and cold front pushed through southern Indiana and central Kentucky. The heaviest rain fell during the morning and into the afternoon hours before tapering off from west to east late on the 20th.

Moving into the 22nd, the upper flow amplified once again with a deep southwest flow aloft. Isentropic lift was underway resulting in widespread light rain pushing northward from Tennessee into Kentucky during the day. By that night, the ridge increased slightly across the region with a surface warm front pushing northward. More moderate to heavy rainfall fell during the night which caused localized flooding.

On the evening of the 23rd, surface low pressure in the vicinity of the Kansas City, MO area with an arcing cold front pushed towards the Mississippi River. This cold front pushed through the region during the night and brought more moderate to heavy

rain along with some thunderstorms.

All this rain and the saturated ground caused many flooding problems around central Kentucky.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2548, -86.3502)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 800062. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.