Thunderstorm Wind — Leslie, Kentucky

2021-06-21 · near Confluence, Leslie, Kentucky

Event narrative

The highway department reported that strong thunderstorm wind gusts had knocked down a tree down across KY-257 in Confluence.

Wider weather episode

A very warm air mass with rich low-level moisture and fairly dry mid-levels was in place over eastern Kentucky. With little in the way of capping, showers and storms quickly blossomed toward midday, especially near the I-64 corridor where an outflow, the lone remnants of an upstream storm cluster, likely provided the trigger. While the initial cells were rather disorganized, slowly increasing westerly winds in the mid-levels, ahead of a strong cold front, provided sufficient shear for the storms to loosely organize into lines, some of which took on a bowing structure. The bowing segments which produced the strongest gusts were oriented more north-to-south, perpendicular to the strengthening mid-level winds. The focus for the storms gradually shifted southeast through the afternoon, ahead of conglomerating thunderstorm outflows. Numerous reports of downed trees and branches were received, along with isolated instances of damage to homes and other structures. Wind gusts between 40 and 57 mph were recorded by several local weather stations, but the strongest winds appear to have missed those locations.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2704, -83.3836)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 956333. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.