EF2 Tornado — Jefferson, Kentucky
2024-04-02 · near Transylvania Beach, Jefferson, Kentucky
Event narrative
The National Weather Service in Louisville surveyed storm damage in southeast Clark County IN, through far northeast Jefferson KY, and into western Oldham County. Specifically the tornado traveled just southeast of the Clark County Indiana Airport, east through Utica, crossing the Ohio River into Prospect, and lifting just east of the Sleepy Hollow Golf Course in Oldham County. The tornado was its strongest in Jefferson County, KY where it was an EF2 with 120 mph winds and 450 yards wide.
Jefferson County KY... As the tornado crossed the Ohio River, it strengthened and widened in Prospect KY. The Beechland Beach neighborhood had multiple homes with extensive damage. Three 2 stories well built homes had significant roof sections pulled
away, along with broken windows, air conditions twisted and torn off from side of homes. Three large pin oak trees were snapped and uprooted. One home had a collapsed back wall that faces against the path of the tornado. Damage in this neighborhood indicated that the tornado was an EF2 with 120 mph winds, and a
width of 400 yards. All homeowners heeded the tornado warning and sought shelter in a safe place.
From here, the tornado crossed through Hays Kennedy Park and into the northwest Prospect community and The Sutherlands neighborhood. Many homes incurred an array of roof damage, downed power lines, snapped power poles, uprooted trees, and trees
falling on homes. The tornado in this area was 110 mph, EF1, with maximum width of 450 yards. One homeowner on Shirley Avenue was trapped in his basement after a tree fell on his home. Surrounding neighbors worked to free the homeowner. Nearby a 7 foot large section of a locust tree was pulled away and thrown 20 yards and impaled in the ground some 4 feet.
As the tornado cut through the Hunting Creek neighborhood, it strengthened to an EF2 with a maximum of 115 mph winds, with a width of 250 yards. Many trees had been uprooted or snapped, few homes had roof structures peeled back and two homes lost there entire roof. There was also mostly broken windows, inverted garage doors, blown mud and insulation around all 4 sides of the homes, and extensive shingle, gutter, and soffit damage. After passing through the neighborhood, the tornado exited Jefferson County into Oldham County.
Wider weather episode
As a surface low cut across Missouri and Illinois, its eastward stretching warm front moved north across central Indiana while its cold front moved east towards the Lower Ohio Valley. This placed central Kentucky in the warm sector, where 3 separate lines of convection moved through during the day. The first line of storms generating from an early morning outflow boundary dropped southeast through the area. This produced six tornadoes, mainly through the Bluegrass region. The second line, moving west to east, just produced some passing showers and thunderstorms. The third line, just ahead of the cold front, moved through during the evening hours. This produced three more tornadoes along the Interstate 71 corridor. One of these tornadoes began in Clark County, Indiana before crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky.
View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.3490, -85.6440)
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1176068. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.