UPDATE 3:00

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews are out pre-treating bridges and overpasses along Interstate 24.  This is being done in the chance that we get less rain that expected before winter precipitation hits later in the day.

Ballard County’s 21st Century Community Learning Center activities have been canceled today due to impending weather. Freshman and varsity boys’ basketball games with Lyon County are cancelled as well.

Tonight’s Graves County High School Frosh/Junior Varsity/Varsity Basketball games against Carlisle County have been cancelled, and they have been rescheduled for Tuesday night at the Eagles Nest beginning at 5 p.m.

Weather Update 1:04

Chad Lampe

2-13-12

National Weather Service forecasters say the predicted snow  for our region could begin around 3:00 p.m. in far western Kentucky moving east by 9:00 p.m. The best chance of ice, forecasters say, is after midnight. We could see up to one tenth of an inch of ice and possibly an inch of snow.

Highway Crews are not pre-treating roadways today because rain ahead of the snow would wash away the pre-treating chemicals. The road crews though will respond throughout the afternoon and evening as the rain changes to sleet and snow.

A recreational drug may be just what the doctor ordered.

NPR reports the club drug, Ketamine may be able to make depression dissapear almost immediately. Are we sure it’s not the trance beat and strobe lights?

Kentucky~ There’s a flood warning starting tomorrow in Paducah. Think twice about taking a leisurely stroll on the remaions of the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge. Commercial driver’s licensing requirements are changing.

Tennessee~ The state is attempting to halt the growing numbers of prescription drug overdoses.

Good news. Romney pays less in taxes than I do, and likely you as well. I’m not sure why that’s good news, but I’m an optimist.

NPR reports Mitt Romney’s 2010 tax return shows he made $21.7 million dollars, and paid 13.9 percent in taxes. He’s rollin in it.

OVC Scores…

Kentucky~ Canaan gets OVC honors for a fourth time…he’s a bad man. A twister touched down in Hazel on Sunday. Former McCracken Judge-Executive gets that money. Madisonville Police ID remains. School bus ads die easy (sorry Bruce Willis). Lawmakers say the budget is tough, wow. Pharmacists say providers are screwing them.

Tennessee~ Beavers backpedals on bill.

NOAA Map of Predicted Storm Impact

The National Weather Service  has issued a tornado watch until 2:00 a.m for the entire WKMS listening area.  The rapidly moving storm front will bring significant wind gusts, torrential rain, hail and potential flash flooding. We won’t be able to post all of the warnings with this storm system. Stay tuned to your local weather radio service, WKMS will provide Emergency Alert System notifications of warnings on the air throughout the evening.

For consistent updates throughout the storm system tonight we suggest visiting McCracken County Emergency Management Meteorologist Beau Dodson’s facebook update page.

The storm system ahead of a cold front will move from southwest to northeast. The storm poses the greatest threat of tornadoes and hail in Northwest Tennessee and along the Kentucky/Tennessee border.  Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois residents should also  expect high damaging winds  up to or exceeding  70 miles per hour and torrential rain. NWS forecasters says windshear is the big story for this event.  Higher levels of windshear are common in January, and with more windshear, forecasters say, it takes less instability to spawn a tornado. Forecasters don’t expect this to be a record breaking event but  There will also be a good chance for flash flooding overnight and into the morning hours.  The storm system will move quickly, around 50 miles per hour.

Night time storms poses a greater safety risk than daytime storms simply because they impact our area while most are sleeping. Forecasters say to test your weather radios and be sure they have fresh batteries.

Weather radios need to be programmed or set to weather stations monitoring where you live. Details are here about programing your weather radio.

Head to your corners and come out swinging…

NPR reports Mitt and Newt have decided to duke it out over abortion, well actually they’re letting their Super PAC’s do the dirty work. That’s a bit like asking your wimpy little brother to fight the neighborhood bully.

Kentucky~   Wild winter weather is upon us. Pseudoephedrine is the talk of the day in the General Assembly. The Commonwealth’s education ranking rose substantially.

Tennessee~  Union City officials think effects of the Goodyear plant closing have yet to be felt.

An unexpected discovery at the bottom of the sea in 1977 changed biology.

NPR tells the story of a small crew of oceanographers who found giant 7 foot worms at the bottom of the ocean, changing what biologists believed was necessary to sustain life.

OVC Scores…

Kentucky~ It’s raining. And the roads are flooded.  Police are looking for a suspect in deadly Trigg County shooting. Paducah Police are looking for a robbery suspect. Gov Beshear is in Marshall County.

Illinois~ Prison work is dangerous.

Or maybe you do, since unemployment is at it’s lowest level in two years.

NPR reports nationwide unemployment has fallen to 8.6 percent with the addition of 120,000 jobs according to new Bureau of Labor stats.

Kentucky~ More charges in the McCracken County Humane Society. MSU beats WKU to reach 8-0. Go find the perfect tree in LBL. It was a wet November. Gov Beshear wants more gambling.

The Super-committee’s lack of movement has everyone scrambling to keep  their funding.

NPR reports the pentagon may have the purse straps tightened more than expected. So now officials are puffing out their chests and strutting in order to prove their worth.

Kentucky~ A trial date has been set in the Jerry Wayne Walker case. There’s a lot of good looking burley this year.  The lead lawyer in the fen-phen trials is fired from the Kentucky Bar Association.

Illinois~ Quinn says there’s not that much cash in gambling expansion.

Tennessee~ State budget talks continue. The Feds are sending more money to clean up meth labs.

Bipartisan talks on the debt ceiling continue today as the deadline approaches.

NPR reports members of both parties will meet with President Obama today to try and reach a deal on the debt ceiling, and prevent the first ever government default.

Kentucky~ The weather for today… is HOT, BLISTERINGLY HOT!! The Paducah Symphony Orchestra has found a new director. A semi-truck hit an Amish buggy and killed a toddler. A visiting Job Corps student drowned in Lake Barkley. Coal workers donate large sums to politicians. Police say they wrote 21,000 seat belt tickets during a two-week crack down. The US Army is bringing murder charges against Brent Burke.

Tennessee~ Goodyear in Union City is shutting down. Gov Haslam plans to be ‘more proactive’ with the General Assembly for the next fiscal year. TVA is trying to help reduce energy costs for customers. A West Tennessee group is answering questions about construction.

UPDATED – 5/26 7:30am

Area Damage Recap:
Last night’s line of storms passed through the region leaving little damage. High winds pushed down some trees across roads and knocked out power in parts of Paducah affecting some 1,500 customers for a few hours.

Several highways through McCracken, Marshall, Calloway and Graves Counties were closed for a few hours overnight as crews repaired downed power lines and removed fallen debris.

It’s much the same down in Paris, Tennessee where fallen trees damaged a handful of homes on Hwy 77, White Street and on the city’s west side along West Wood Street and Forrest Heights Drive. About 2,500 residents were without power for some time for overnight, but many homes’ connections have been restored. Henry County Emergency Management Director Ronald Watkins estimates some 20-30 county homes suffered minor damage.

In Massac County, Illinois a tornado is believed to have caused damage to a farm.

McCracken County Emergency Management Meteorologist Beau Dodson says over 75 tornadoes reportedly struck southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee. The National Weather Service is sending out survey teams today. Dodson says damage was mostly confined to rural instances, leaving cities and larger towns spared from the most intense damage.

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