Additional information on Sunday's windstorm
Several factors combined to bring high winds to Kentucky and Indiana this past Sunday. The most important of course were the remnants of hurricane Ike. By the time the center of circulation moved into western Indiana...the counter-clockwise circulation around the center of the storm had fallen to only 30 mph. However...as this system moved across the Ohio River, its forward speed increased to 30 mph. If you add the circulation's speed to the translational speed of the storm....the cummulative winds could approach 60 to 70 mph along a favored track to the southeast of the center.
In additon, warm temperatures Sunday lead to unstable conditions that greatly added downward transport of higher winds normally found around 3 to 5 thousand feet.
The image below shows surface pressure and winds circulating around low pressure in western Indiana. The color background shows the 3 hour pressure rise and fall along the path of this low pressure system. It shows 3 hour pressure falls over 8mb across central Indiana...and 3 hour pressure rises of 13mb across the Missouri Bootheel. This is a classic example of the rise-fall couplet associated with a fast moving intense low pressure system.
The image below shows cloudiness and surface winds associated with the circulation of "Ike". Note the 65 mph wind gusts at Standiford Field in Louisville. At the time of this image....winds were also gusting to 49 mph at Cincinnati and 47 mph at Lexington.
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