Thunderstorm Wind — Woodford, Kentucky

2024-05-26 · near Spring Station, Woodford, Kentucky

Event narrative

The National Weather Service storm damage survey team confirmed

several concentrated areas of straight line wind damage across

Northern Woodford County.

Areas of damage consistent with straight line winds of 75 to 80

mph were observed along Old Frankfort Pike west of Midway Road. Damage consisted of dozens of uprooted and topped trees

which were blown to the northeast and north-northeast. Most of

the tree damage was consistent with 70 to 75 mph winds; however,

there was a 10 foot wide healthy oak with an enormous root ball

that was uprooted, suggesting an increase to 80 mph winds. No

twisting of trees was exhibited.

Drone photography showed numerous corn and hay swirls of concentrated

winds being translated down to the ground. An older barn in a state

of disrepair on Woodlake Road was destroyed, although

3 nearby barns received no damage. Additionally, there was sporadic

straight line wind damage along Leestown Pike between the

Franklin County line and Midway.

Wider weather episode

A strong storm system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on May 26th and into the early morning hours of May 27th, 2024. Two waves of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across central Kentucky, producing numerous occurrences of straight-line wind damage and 8 tornadoes while crossing the region. The first wave of storms moved across central Kentucky as a large bowing quasi-linear convective system during the late morning and early afternoon hours. This line of storms produced widespread straight-line wind damage, with particularly heavy damage observed across the Louisville metro and northern Woodford County. Two quick spin up tornadoes in Clinton County were also associated with this line.

After a second sub-severe line of storms moved across the area during the early afternoon hours, conditions were relatively quiet until the mid-to-late afternoon, when strong and severe cells began to develop across western Kentucky and southern Illinois. The storms would initially be discrete before growing into another large line of storms which produced the heaviest damage south of Interstate 64. Six tornadoes would be associated with this second line, with a long track EF1 tornado extending for over 40 miles across Muhlenberg, Butler, and Warren County. Heavy straight-line wind damage was also observed with this second line of storms, especially in Barren, Mercer, and Garrard County. The line of storms finally pushed east of the area shortly after midnight on May 27th, bringing an end to an active 16 hours across central Kentucky.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1416, -84.7509)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1188963. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.