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EF1 tornado in Union County, Kentucky

Tornado March 3, 2023 · Union County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
6.7 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$115K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An EF-1 tornado began just southeast of the Sturgis Municipal Airport. Traveling north-northeast, the tornado partially demolished three separate large barns along its path. The tornado also snapped or uprooted several trees and downed dozens of large tree limbs. The tornado roughly paralleled Poplar Ridge Road initially. After crossing Kentucky Highway 270, the tornado then passed along Kentucky Highway 1177 before disappearing near the intersection of Kentucky Highways 1177 and 758, just northwest of the community of Pride. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph.

The wider storm

A strong storm system led to significant impacts. Heavy rainfall amounts of 3 to 4.5 inches produced areas of flash flooding, with numerous road closures. The heavy rain drove the Ohio River above flood stage at Uniontown. Very strong wind gusts occurred, ranging between 50 and about 70 mph. These were associated with both thunderstorms and gradient winds afterwards. The line of storms moved through during the late morning and early afternoon, and then very strong gradient winds continued for several hours afterwards through the afternoon. An indirect fatality occurred the following day during cleanup operations. A 69-year-old man in Calloway County was killed when a large branch landed on him while he was cutting up the tree. The magnitude and duration of this wind produced significant damage to trees, power lines, and other outdoor property such as fences. Soggy ground due to the excessive rainfall likely contributed to some trees being more susceptible to being blown over. Numerous power outages occurred, some lasting into the following day. Six tornadoes occurred along the line of thunderstorms across western Kentucky. The strongest was rated EF-2 just south of Paducah. Finally, the lowest barometric pressure of all-time was observed in Paducah (977.7 mb). The center of the record strong low pressure system tracked from the bootheel of extreme southeast Missouri northeast right along the Ohio River. Very strong southwest winds occurred on the back side of the low pressure system in the afternoon. Gusts were up to around 60 mph. A semi was blown over on Interstate 24 in Trigg County.

Began near Sturgis Muni Arpt (37.5200, -87.9600).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1080445. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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