EF1 tornado in Union County, Kentucky

An EF-1 tornado struck far western Union County. Moving north-northeast, the tornado began near the intersection of IV Runyon Road and Geiger Lake Road. The tornado damaged several trees in this area as well as producing minor roof and fascia damage to a couple of homes. When the tornado reached the intersection of Kentucky Highways 56 and 109, it removed a portion of the roof from a large outbuilding and parts of roofing and fascia from a small convenience store. Just north of Highway 56, the tornado snapped approximately five large hardwood trees and downed several large tree limbs before dissipating. Peak winds were estimated near 100 mph.

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.