EF1 Tornado — Taylor, Kentucky

2022-01-01 · near Lorain, Taylor, Kentucky

Event narrative

NWS Storm Survey Teams found EF-1 tornado damage just north of Campbellsville. The timing for this tornado was based on eyewitness accounts.

The first evidence of touchdown was on Salem Church Road, where several outbuildings had damage. The tornado then continued into the Woodhill subdivision where several homes sustained mostly roof damage. The tornado then continued downstream, crossing Hwy 289 and then following along Hwy 3211, Red Fern Rd. Several homes experienced damage here, again mostly with roof issues, but multiple trees were also uprooted and/or snapped.

Additional damage occurred along Palestine Rd and Sharp Ln, mostly roofing damage, but some of the debris falling downstream hit and broke off parts of a low brick wall. Two power poles in the area were bent roughly 30 degrees, with one cracked at the base but still standing.

The tornado caused its last damage along Old Spurlington Road near US Hwy 68. A two-story home had some roofing damage along the top ridge. A tree on the southwest side of the home surprisingly did not fall on the house, but a nearby air conditioner unit was pushed partly off its foundation. A little bit downstream, closer to Hwy 68, a large garage structure had significant roofing damage and a wall buckling outward.

A house and barn were damaged just downstream of Hwy 68. An eyewitness reported seeing the tornado lifting in this area. A motorist said it crossed KY 744 in front of him, and it was not touching the ground right after it went through his area.

Side note: this tornado track was parallel to and about 4 miles southeast of the EF-3 tornado that tracked through the region on December 11, 2021.

Wider weather episode

During New Year's Eve into New Year's Day, active weather was observed across Kentucky as several waves of low pressure moved along a frontal boundary that was stalled across the region. This resulted in multiple rounds of widespread precipitation, and rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with locally higher amounts observed across the area. As the boundary lifted north as a warm front New Year's Day, strong to severe storms were able to develop within the warm sector ahead of an approaching cold front, with multiple tornadoes and scattered straight-line wind damage being observed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.3730, -85.3850)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1004297. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.