Winter Solstice Flooding & Severe Weather - December 21-22, 2013

December 21-22, 2013
Winter Solstice Flooding and Severe Weather

A plume of very moist air was pulled across the Ohio Valley ahead of a developing low pressure system. Heavy rain fell over portions of the Ohio Valley overnight Friday night December 20th into the 21st. This rain lasted into the day on the 21st, increasing flooding concerns due to the recent snow melt and causing minor flooding during the day. The low pressure system then tracked northeastward and across the Ohio Valley Saturday night. This low continued to draw an unseasonably warm and moist air mass into our area, and brought heavy rain to a large portion of southeastern Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and northern Kentucky overnight Saturday night. This secondary wave of heavy rain brought about flash flooding, river flooding, and many areas of standing water. In addition to the heavy rain, strong winds aloft combined with the warm and unstable airmass to produce an organized line of storms that brought severe winds across portions of our area Saturday night.