Thunderstorm Wind — Leslie, Kentucky

2021-09-22 · near Wooton, Leslie, Kentucky

Event narrative

Leslie County Dispatch reported telephone lines were down and blocking both lanes of KY-80 near the intersection with Wooton Road in the community of Wooton, just southwest of Hazard.

Wider weather episode

A cold front and surface low pressure system were slowly progressing eastward across the central Commonwealth during the overnight/early morning hours of Wednesday, September 22nd. With deep southerly flow ahead of this system, a developing upper level low, and a strengthening surface low, this set the stage for creating a moist, warm environment with good lift. Scattered showers were ongoing throughout the overnight, evolving into more widespread showers and thunderstorms heading into the daytime hours. Best instability was located over the far southeast portion of the state, which was not already worked over by the ongoing rains. As the front began to gain traction when moving into this region, the result was a linear formation within the cluster of showers, with higher rainfall rates and strong winds aloft able to mix down along the line. Because of this feature and the increased velocities, multiple severe thunderstorm warnings were issued, all mentioning the threat of at least 60 mph winds. Sure enough, multiple damage reports were received across the southeast portion of the state as it moved through.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.1795, -83.3020)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 987355. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.