Overview
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Unusually mild and humid weather spread across eastern Kentucky leading up to September 24th as the Ohio Valley became firmly entrenched within the warm sector of a low pressure system. Multiple rounds of showers and storms, apparently sparked by passing upper-level disturbances aloft, worked across the area. One of these disturbances coincided with peak heating/destabilization and moderately strong wind shear during the late afternoon and evening of September 24th. It was within this favorable environment that multiple rotating supercell thunderstorms developed over Middle Tennessee and Southcentral Kentucky where the strongest shear coincided with moderate instability. Two of these supercells became intense, producing swaths of hail with diameter to between golf and baseball size. The first cell tracked from northern Cumberland City to just north of Corbin, pummeling northern McCreary and northern Whitley Counties with the largest reported hail of the day. Another developing cell lifted north out of Scott County, Tennessee and rapidly organized into a behemoth supercell north of Williamsburg, reaching peak intensity over the rural portions of far eastern Laurel County and west central Clay County before weakening north of Burning Springs. Outside of these hail swaths, instances of wind damage and smaller hail were reported, mostly in the Cumberland River basin. |
 Significant Hail at Bee Creek (Whitley County) (Courtesy of Shawn Cowden) |
Photos & Video
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| Large Hail near Manchester (Clay County) (Courtesy of Johnny Ray Feltner) |
Significant Hail near Bee Creek (Whitley County) (Courtesy of Diane Sulfridge Duff) |
Large Hailstone (Clay County) (Courtesy of Trish Hensley) |
Snapped Power Pole on Sam Parker Road (Knox County) (Courtesy of Kimberly Hensley Ledford) |
Large Hail near Alpine (Whitley County) (Courtesy of Dylan Mcvicker) |
Radar
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Regional Radar Imagery Loop 3 PM EDT September 24th, 2024 to 9 PM EDT, September 24th, 2024 |
Storm Reports
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0520 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg Spruce Pine 36.92N 83.45W
09/24/2024 Leslie KY Emergency Mngr
Trees and powerlines were down in the Spruce
Pine and Saylor communities of southwestern
Leslie county or in the general vicinity of
the intersection of KY 1780 and KY 2058.
0522 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 NNW Susie 36.79N 84.96W
09/24/2024 Wayne KY 911 Call Center
Wayne County dispatch reported a tree blown
down onto KY-834 West approximately a mile
north of the intersection with KY-90.
0525 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 2 NE Gray 36.96N 83.99W
09/24/2024 Knox KY Public
Social media post of a snapped power pole
along Sam Parker Road in Knox County. Time
estimated via radar. Approximately
(36.96296, -83.98730).
0525 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 SSE Sand Springs 37.29N 84.35W
09/24/2024 Rockcastle KY 911 Call Center
Rockcastle County 911 Center reported a down
tree at the intersection of Marler Hollow Rd
and Sand Springs Rd. Time estimated from
radar.
0531 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 SE Pine Hill 37.32N 84.25W
09/24/2024 Rockcastle KY 911 Call Center
Rockcastle County 911 Center reported a tree
down at the intersection of US 25 and Upper
Calloway Loop. Time estimated from radar.
0545 PM Hail Cane Creek 37.06N 83.92W
09/24/2024 M1.00 Inch Laurel KY Public
A public social media reported of quarter
sized hail relayed by Amateur Radio.
0555 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 S Bradshaw 37.41N 83.96W
09/24/2024 Jackson KY 911 Call Center
Jackson County dispatch reported a tree
blown down across McCammon Ridge Road near
the intersection with Kim Gay Lane. Event
time estimated from radar.
0600 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg Alpine 36.92N 84.52W
09/24/2024 Pulaski KY 911 Call Center
A tree was blown down near the intersection
of US 27 and Jeru Knob Road.
0605 PM Hail Grace 37.20N 83.87W
09/24/2024 E1.50 Inch Clay KY Public
Social media picture of estimated 1.5 inch
hail in Fogertown (37.200042, -83.869560).
Time via radar.
0611 PM Hail 1 NW Treadway 37.24N 83.79W
09/24/2024 E2.00 Inch Clay KY Public
A social media report with a picture was
relayed by broadcast media of hail of 2 to
2.25 inches in diameter.
0611 PM Hail Treadway 37.24N 83.79W
09/24/2024 E2.00 Inch Clay KY Public
Picture on social media of about 2 inch wide
hailstones along Laurel Heights Road. Time
estimated via radar (37.235433, -83.789241).
0612 PM Hail 1 SW Burning Springs 37.24N 83.81W
09/24/2024 E2.00 Inch Clay KY Public
A picture was received via social media of
hail of at least egg size near Burning
Springs.
0612 PM Hail Alpine 36.92N 84.52W
09/24/2024 E1.75 Inch Pulaski KY Public
Photo on social media of golf ball sized
hail in Alpine.
0628 PM Hail Bark Camp 36.91N 84.25W
09/24/2024 E3.00 Inch Whitley KY Public
A picture was received of at least 3 inch
diameter hail from the Bee Creek community
along KY 1193 in the vicinity of Bark Camp.
The event time is radar estimated.
0630 PM Hail 1 ESE Bark Camp 36.90N 84.24W
09/24/2024 M2.00 Inch Whitley KY Public
A public report with a picture was relayed
by an Amateur radio operator in the Bee
Creek community southeast of Bark Camp. The
event time is radar estimated.
0631 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 2 ESE Rye 36.92N 84.16W
09/24/2024 Whitley KY Public
Social media report of trees down on power
lines and a broken power pole. Time
estimated via radar.
0636 PM Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 WNW Ricetown 37.40N 83.64W
09/24/2024 Owsley KY Dept of Highways
A tree was blown down onto Lower Wolfe Creek
Road about 7 miles from the outskirts of
Booneville or between Eddie Marshall Ln and
KY 2024. The event time is radar estimated.
0636 PM Hail 2 SSE Rye 36.90N 84.17W
09/24/2024 E1.25 Inch Whitley KY Public
A picture of hail was received from
southwest of Corbin along Cumberland Falls
Hwy. The event time is radar estimated.
0640 PM Hail North Corbin 36.96N 84.09W
09/24/2024 E1.00 Inch Laurel KY Public
Video on social media of quarter-sized hail
falling behind the KFC in North Corbin. Time
estimated via radar.
0648 PM Hail 1 SE Barton 36.92N 84.12W
09/24/2024 E1.50 Inch Whitley KY Public
Ping Pong hail that then turned to pea sized
hail was reported at the Baptist Hospital in
Corbin.
0650 PM Hail Gray 36.94N 84.01W
09/24/2024 E1.75 Inch Knox KY 911 Call Center
0710 PM Hail Woollum 37.02N 83.82W
09/24/2024 E1.25 Inch Knox KY Public
Hail fell along KY 11 near the Clay County
border and was estimated to be between
quarter and golf ball sized.
Environment
A low pressure system ahead of a deep upper level trough over the Central Plains slowly lifted from the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes leading up to and during the severe weather event as shown in Figure 1. The combination of lifting from an upper level disturbance rotating around the trough initiated scattered convective development late in the afternoon/evening within the warm sector's unstable and highly sheared atmosphere. Effective shear of around 50 knots and 1,000 to 2,000 J/kg of MLCAPE provided a sufficiently balanced environment for supercells. Additionally, long straight hodographs evident from atmospheric soundings were favorable for large hail producing updrafts. The end result of this combination of factors is shown in the MRMS Hail Swaths (Figure 2). Almost all of the large hail reports came from the supercell storm that tracked from WSW to ENE from northern Clinton County to northern Knox County and the other supercell which tracked SW to NE from northern Scott County, Tennessee to southern Owsley County.
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| Figure 1: 2 AM EDT, September 24th through 2 AM EDT, September 25th, 2024 | Figure 2: Hail Swaths with Estimated Diameter |
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