By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
While the cleanup continues for areas affected by the tornadoes that struck southeastern Kentucky Friday night into Saturday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) is urging residents to prepare for another potential round of severe weather Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday morning.
Mike Kochasic with the NWs Louisville office said, “We’re looking at a high probability of damaging winds, hail, a few tornadoes, potentially strong again, heavy rain and flooding potential are all on the table.”
He pointed out that while there is a slight risk of severe weather statewide (Level 2 of 5), the Storm Prediction Center says there is an enhanced risk of severe weather (Level 3) in the part of Kentucky that is along and south of a line from Hickman to near Prestonsburg. This includes the London and Somerset areas, which saw 19 deaths during the last outbreak.
Kochasic says the storms will enter Western Kentucky between noon and 4 p.m. (all times Eastern), from Hopkinsville to Owensboro between 3-7 p.m., the Central Bluegrass area, along with Somerset and London from 4-8 p.m., and from Maysville to Williamsburg and points East between 7-11 p.m. The system should exit the coverage area in the state shortly after midnight.
He notes this could be a problem in the areas where crews are cleaning up from Friday night. “We have a lot of projectile potential, two by fours, bricks, and other things that are already laying on the ground. You bring in another storm system that could do more damage and blow around a lot of loose and unsecured objects. That’s a potential impact you really must be careful of, especially if you’re boots on the ground in the areas that were hit last weekend.”
According to Kochasic, you will not be able to get warnings from NOAA Weather Radio in the 49 Kentucky counties covered by the Louisville NWS as it begins a long-planned service upgrade on Monday that will last into Wednesday and has shut down its radio transmitters. He urges residents to get another method to receive severe weather warnings, such as a Smartphone weather app or local TV and radio stations.
Once this system passes out of Kentucky, it should be dry until Sunday, with cooler temperatures.