{"id":2615,"date":"2025-05-21T04:09:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T08:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/us.weatheramerica.com\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2025-06-27T04:15:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:15:44","slug":"weather-warning-for-kentucky-severe-storms-and-tornado-threats-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/2025\/05\/21\/weather-warning-for-kentucky-severe-storms-and-tornado-threats-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather warning for Kentucky: Severe storms and tornado threats return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2616\" src=\"http:\/\/us.weatheramerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/tempesta-in-Kentucky_2105.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/tempesta-in-Kentucky_2105.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/tempesta-in-Kentucky_2105-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/tempesta-in-Kentucky_2105-860x645.jpg 860w, https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/tempesta-in-Kentucky_2105-195x146.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>High risk for southern Kentucky<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A new <strong>round of severe storms is forecasted for Kentucky<\/strong> on <strong>Monday, May 20<\/strong>, with <strong>southern regions facing the most serious threats<\/strong>. The <strong>National Weather Service<\/strong> has flagged <strong>Russell, Laurel, and Pulaski counties<\/strong>\u2014already devastated by tornadoes just days ago\u2014as at risk again for <strong>all modes of severe weather<\/strong>, including <strong>damaging winds, large hail<\/strong>, and <strong>flash flooding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Meteorologist <strong>Mike Kochasic<\/strong> from the <strong>National Weather Service in Louisville<\/strong> stressed the gravity of the situation: <strong>\u201cReally all modes of severe weather are possible, including in the areas hardest hit recently.\u201d<\/strong> The <strong>Storm Prediction Center<\/strong> has issued an <strong>&#8220;enhanced&#8221; risk level<\/strong> for <strong>southern Kentucky<\/strong>, the third-highest on their five-tier scale. There\u2019s also a <strong>greater than 10% probability<\/strong> of a <strong>significant tornado<\/strong>, meaning <strong>EF-2 or stronger<\/strong>, across the southern half of the state.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>City-specific threats<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Communities including <strong>Corbin, London<\/strong>, and <strong>Williamsburg<\/strong> are especially vulnerable, with a <strong>45% chance<\/strong> of experiencing <strong>damaging wind gusts above 60 mph<\/strong> (approximately <strong>96.5 km\/h<\/strong>). In <strong>Louisville<\/strong>, although under a <strong>&#8220;slight&#8221; risk level<\/strong>, the forecast still warns of a <strong>15% chance of strong winds<\/strong> and <strong>5% for a significant tornado<\/strong>, along with potential <strong>localized flooding<\/strong> due to recent rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Communication challenges and safety concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Complicating matters, a <strong>scheduled outage<\/strong> of <strong>NOAA weather radios<\/strong> is affecting parts of <strong>central Kentucky and southern Indiana<\/strong> through <strong>May 21<\/strong>. This outage is due to a <strong>nationally coordinated systems upgrade<\/strong>. Residents who typically rely on these radios for <strong>weather alerts<\/strong> are urged to use <strong>alternative sources<\/strong>, such as <strong>smartphone alerts<\/strong>, which remain active for those in <strong>Louisville<\/strong> and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recent destruction and casualties<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These warnings follow the <strong>deadly May 16 outbreak<\/strong>, when a <strong>tornado ravaged southeastern Kentucky<\/strong>, killing <strong>19 people<\/strong>\u2014<strong>17 in Laurel County<\/strong>, one each in <strong>Pulaski<\/strong> and <strong>Russell counties<\/strong>. Although <strong>Louisville<\/strong> avoided fatalities, the storm <strong>injured at least four people<\/strong> when a <strong>tree crashed through a home<\/strong>, and left approximately <strong>45,000 residents without power<\/strong> at its peak.<\/p>\n<p>Residents are being asked to remain <strong>extremely vigilant<\/strong> and monitor multiple <strong>weather alert systems<\/strong> due to the <strong>continuing threat of tornadoes, hail, and severe thunderstorms<\/strong> across the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High risk for southern Kentucky A new round of severe storms is forecasted for Kentucky on Monday, May 20, with southern regions facing the most serious threats. The National Weather Service has flagged Russell, Laurel, and Pulaski counties\u2014already devastated by tornadoes just days ago\u2014as at risk again for all modes of severe weather, including damaging [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Weather warning for Kentucky: Severe storms and tornado threats return - United States - Weather America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weatheramerica.com\/us\/2025\/05\/21\/weather-warning-for-kentucky-severe-storms-and-tornado-threats-return\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Weather warning for Kentucky: Severe storms and tornado threats return - United States - Weather America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"High risk for southern Kentucky A new round of severe storms is forecasted for Kentucky on Monday, May 20, with southern regions facing the most serious threats. 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