Heavy Rain Summary Nov. 16-17 2015

Heavy rain fell across most of southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, southwest Indiana and western Kentucky November 16th and 17th. Looks like the forecast played out fairly well. We can attribute the relatively good forecast to the fact, forecast maps we use, were very consistent since late last week with respect to both the placement of heaviest rain, and actual amounts. Flooding was relatively minor, with reports mainly confined to southeast Missouri early Tuesday night. In summary, 3-6+ inches of rain fell across southeast Missouri, 2 to just over 4 inches in southern Illinois, and far west Kentucky, with 1 to just over 2.5 inches of rain from southwest Indiana into the Pennyrile region of west Kentucky. If only all events would play out as nicely as this one did. Some added rainfall this morning is expected across the Pennyrile as well, with showers ending there by late morning.

In addition to the heavy rain, very gusty winds were observed yesterday and last night. Wind gusts generally peaked in the 40 to 45 mph range. There were a few minor issues from across the area. We issue Wind Advisories for sustained winds 30 to 39 mph lasting one hour more more, or for 45 mph or higher wind gusts. Advisories are issued when there is a significant inconvenience caused by the event. While a couple of issues were wind related yesterday, significant issues on a larger scale did not unfold. Never the less, it was quite breezy yesterday. And we do have the latitude to issue an Advisory should forecaster discretion dictate. Not all events are created equal. Rainfall and wind gust graphics are included below:

Storm total rainfall ending 11/18/2015 8 a.m.

NWS Paducah, KY Rainfall forecast issued Monday afternoon 11/16/2015

Highest wind gusts since yesterday (11/17/2015)