National Weather Service severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect for parts of central Kentucky until 8 p.m. Tuesday

Tuesday’s round of storms prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Severe Thunderstorm Watch covering multiple counties in central Kentucky, a status that remained active through Tuesday evening, according to WKYT. The watch was issued for Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Harrison, Nicholas, and Scott counties and was set to expire at 8 p.m. Eastern.

WKYT reported that the storms caused damage and contributed to power outages across Kentucky. The report did not provide specific figures on outages or the extent of physical damage in each county, but it said impacts were being seen statewide during the event window.

A severe thunderstorm watch is different from a warning, which is issued when storms are occurring or expected to be producing damaging conditions in a specific area. During a watch, forecasters are indicating that conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms to develop and move into the watch area. Residents are generally urged to keep an eye on changing weather, review safety steps ahead of time, and be ready to act quickly if warnings are issued for their location.

With thunderstorms ongoing, public safety officials typically recommend taking shelter when lightning approaches and avoiding risky areas such as open fields, metal structures, and flooded roadways. If power is lost, residents are encouraged to use backup lighting safely and to keep generators and other equipment properly ventilated, particularly indoors, to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide exposure.

Storm-related power outages can also affect routine community services, including traffic indicates, home heating or cooling equipment, and communications. Utilities generally rely on incident reports from the public and field crews as they triage restoration priorities, focusing first on safety hazards such as downed lines, then on critical infrastructure and the largest outage areas as conditions allow.

As the 8 p.m. Eastern expiration time approaches, the next key update for residents in the watch counties is whether the National Weather Service issues warnings for particular locations. If additional severe thunderstorm warnings are posted, those would supersede the watch guidance by indicating specific imminent or occurring hazards, including the possibility of damaging winds and large hail.