EF2 Tornado — Hardin, Kentucky

2023-06-25 · near Franklin Xrds, Hardin, Kentucky

Event narrative

A narrow, but powerful, EF-2 tornado developed quickly in the Cecilia area late Sunday evening, as a cluster of thunderstorms briefly interacted with an east-west oriented outflow boundary from earlier storm activity. The storm first caused tree damage along Long Grove Rd near Tabb Rd. A property near this intersection had several trees uprooted and snapped as well as limbs down. On the south side of Tabb Rd. roofing material from the northern side landed on that property. An RV that had been along a row of trees south of Tabb Rd was forced onto its side as well.

The tornado continued southeast across cropland. Drone footage indicated a nice swath of damage in the corn. The tornado then affected two homes on the end of Basham Lane. The first house had a carport thrown to the right of the track into an open field. An AC unit was flipped on its side at the house and a brick facade wall came off the house structure. Farther southeast, the strongest winds occurred as the tornado pulled up the wide front porch of a house and then peeled the roof back. Parts of the roof landed upstream of where the tornado caused the damage. A gazebo behind the house was thrown in a counter clockwise fashion back to the other side of the house. Two parked trucks were shifted from their location as well. Damage continued in the corn field southeast of property, with drone footage indicating some jagged movement of the tornado on the ground.

It continued just past another row of trees where it impacted a barn before the tornado lifted.

The survey drove to several other sites across the county...along Black Branch, Hayden School, Rineyville, and Locust Grove roads. The rest of the damage had trees falling generally toward the south, in line with straight lined winds on the order of 80-90 mph.

Wider weather episode

An anomalously strong mid- and upper-level trough for late June moved across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley from the afternoon hours on June 25th through the morning hours on June 26th. A 60-70 kt 500 mb jet bisected the mid-Mississippi Valley, placing central Kentucky and southern Indiana in the left exit region, contributing to broad rising motion over the area. Near the surface, a well-defined cold front crossed the Mississippi River during the mid-to-late afternoon hours on June 25th, with temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s and dewpoints in the upper 60s and lower 70s in the warm sector ahead of the front. In the warm sector, mixed-layer CAPE of 2500-3500 J/kg provided plenty of fuel for convective development aside from the aforementioned favorable jet forcing. With 25-35 knots of flow at 850 mb, there was also ample vertical wind shear across the region, with effective bulk shear values generally above 45 kt, leading to the development of supercellular structures. The parameter space was favorable for all severe hazards. 0-1 km storm-relative helicity was over 200 m2/s2 and significant tornado parameter values were frequently greater than 1, suggesting the potential for rotating mesocyclones and tornadoes. Downdraft CAPE was over 1200 J/kg along and west of Interstate 65, suggesting the potential for strong winds from any formidable downdrafts. Finally, sufficient mid-level lapse rates and significant hail parameter values warranted concerns for severe hail. As would be expected given the parameter space, all severe hazards were observed, with a couple tornadoes and numerous straight-line wind and hail reports across southern Indiana and central Kentucky. Straight-line winds of up to 100 mph and multiple reports of golf ball or larger size hail serve as evidence of the highly unusual setup across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys June 25th and 26th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6820, -86.0133)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1118316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.