5:45 PM Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Severe Thunderstorm Watch continues with greatest threat headed over South Central Indiana – at least 30+ miles north of the Ohio River.
Farther south, 30 miles north and south of the River, the expected intensity increase has failed to fire. Line of storms headed toward Metro Louisville should remain mostly (if not entirely) below “severe” limits. They should produce strong, gusty winds and heavy rain between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM.
3 PM Tuesday, April 29, 2025
The Severe Storm Prediction Center has placed about half of our area into a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9 PM tonight. The SPC is concerned about a fast-moving storm cluster coming from SE MO up the Ohio Valley for the next few hours as the storm system is expected to strengthen.
Judging from the current situation, the greatest threat here should be from about 7PM until 9 PM. Greatest threat is gusty winds which could reach up to 70 mph in a few isolated areas. This is not expected to be a widespread damaging system.
The Watch area basically includes Kentucky counties along the Ohio River and all of southern Indiana from western KY/IN to just east of I-65.
Interesting note: The SPC issues a Watch area as a large rectangle placed over a geographic area. This is primarily for aviation interests. Local forecast offices are allowed to “fine tune” the area for their local regions. Today we’re operating with a split decision.
The SPC Watch area includes Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt and Hardin Counties. However, Louisville’s forecast office does NOT include these four counties.
That’s a good indication as to how “marginable” this situation really is.