EF1 Tornado — Oldham, Kentucky

2024-04-02 · near Belknap Beach, Oldham, 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.

Oldham County... The tornado exited Jefferson County and continued east over the Harrods Creek Dam and into the Hidden Creek neighborhood. Many trees were uprooted, barns took damage to the overhead doors and sheet metal, and homes incurred some roof damage. The damage indicated that the tornado weakened to a lower end EF1, with a maximum wind of 90 mph, and a width of 200 yards.

The tornado continued to weaken as it moved parallel to Sleepy Hollow Road. Trees along this road and over the Sleepy Hollow Golf Course were uprooted or topped and barns incurred various structural damage. The damage indicated that the tornado was an EF0, with maximum winds of 80 mph and width of 125 yards.

The tornado lifted along Highway 329 as the parent storm occluded and formed a new tornado to the north.

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 → (38.3510, -85.5850)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1176069. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.