The National Weather Service is warning of high heat and a moderate risk of severe storms and flooding for portions of the region over the next couple of days.
Paducah NWS meteorologist Ricky Shanklin said southwest Illinois and far western Kentucky are under a heat advisory with heat indices between 100 and 105. He expects temperatures to remain high throughout the week.
Shanklin said two rounds of severe storms will pass through Kentucky with the first round likely missing our region, hitting just east of Daviess and Logan counties this afternoon. The second round is expected to fall east of the lakes tonight between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. It is possible the storms could reach further west. Shanklin said the main threat is damaging straight line and downburst winds that could reach 60 miles per hour, but he can’t rule out the possibility of hail or a tornado. He added high winds could more easily uproot trees in areas saturated from previous storms.
The storms will also bring torrential downpours with some rainfall rates potentially surpassing 2 inches an hour. Southeast Illinois and Kentucky counties east of the Land Between the lakes are under a flash flood watch through Wednesday morning.
Shanklin says it is possible severe weather will pass over our region because warmer air higher in the atmosphere could suppress the storms.
