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A few weeks ago, I put out a post suggesting that we start a Weather Hall Of Fame here at WxOrNot based on these general guidelines:
1. The event needs to impact 50% of the state at least.
2. It has to have a significant impact on the state socially.
3. It has to have happened at least 4 years in the past.
4. We can only induct up to 5 events per year.
This limits me to a certain set of events, and I didn’t even follow my own guidelines when choosing events to put in. So, because the March 2nd tornado outbreak very socially and meteorologically significant, I will add it in with this class because of that.
So, along with the explanations for why, here is the 2015 Class of Inductees into the Weather Hall Of Fame.
The 2009 Ice Storm.
This was the most significant natural disaster in modern Kentucky history. From an economic standpoint, this impacted power across the state (over 700,000 people lost power), it shut down business for days and even shut down whole communities in western Kentucky.
Socially, the death toll was over 20 in the state alone. Families had to sit in the dark and the cold that followed the system for days. There were rural towns that didn’t get power back for weeks following the ice melting. This system destroyed forests across the western part of the state and lots of area forests are just now beginning to recover. Cell phone towers were out, and ground communication became very difficult.
This was easily one of the most impactful and destructive natural disasters in state history, and the impacts of it on the state are still seen today.
March 2nd, 2012 Severe weather outbreak.
This was absolutely a Kentucky anomaly. We hadn’t had a predominately supercell tornado outbreak effect the whole state in nearly 40 years. The last one was the 1974 tornado outbreak. Events like this are so rare across the state, as low pressure systems often drag cold fronts across the state during the overnight hours when instability isn’t favorable for supercells.
We often see squall lines march across the state that do damage, but not like this. Eastern Kentucky was significantly impacted by hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes. Across south central KY, they saw significant hailstorms. Across northern Kentucky, they were faced with strong tornadoes as well. This was a state wide event, and likely an event we may not see for a while longer.
The December 22nd-23rd, 2004 winter storm.
This was the winter storm before 2009. This event was incredible, and dropped tons and tons of wintry precip across not only our state, but our neighboring states. This system produced a significant amount of snowfall, including a 24 hour record at Paducah. Louisville reported thunder sleet and had up to 9″ of snow and sleet.
Areas of central KY saw significant ice and sleet accumulations that lead to downed trees and power outages across much of the area. While Bowling Green didn’t see significant accumulations from this system, areas to our north and west did, and that is why this system is firmly established in this class.
The July 13, 2004 derecho.
This system is likely a lot less remembered by many of you, but it was incredibly significant to so many across the state. It began as a small supercell across northern Illinois, and quickly raced southeastward into strong instability.
As it did so, its outflow began to ignite storms off to its west, and is it did so the storms began to develop into a strong line of thunderstorm. This raced southeastward into KY and produced significant wind damage. Fort Knox recorded gusts of Hurricane force, and Bowling Green recorded an 84 mph wind gust with this system. Some gnarly stuff.
The Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak; 2008.
This event was insane. I’m talking insane. Events like this one rarely ever happen, as this was one of the most significant severe weather outbreaks in any winter month ever. There were several strong tornadoes across Arkansas and Tennessee, and an EF-3 struck Monroe county in the late night hours of February 5th.
As the night went on, a severe squall line developed over eastern Missouri and Illinois and raced into central Kentucky. This not only produced damaging winds across the state, but dropped several tornadoes within the squall line itself. With this occurring in the overnight hours, it was a rough situation for meteorologists and citizens across the state.
Well, there you have it! The 2015 Weather Hall Of Fame inductees. Congratulations!
