EF1 Tornado — Cumberland, Kentucky

2024-05-26 · near Littrell, Cumberland, Kentucky

Event narrative

The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey and found a

tornado occurred on Sunday, May 26th, 2024. This tornado reached a peak intensity of EF1 with 95 mph estimated peak winds, crossing through portions of southern Cumberland and Clinton County.

The tornado started at Sulphur Creek in southern Cumberland County just to the west

of Celina Road, or Kentucky Route 61. Tree uproot damage was consistent

with EF1 95 mph winds. The tornado then tracked across Celina

Road along Sulphur Creek, and did more extensive tree damage in

the hills west of Peytonsburg Sulphur Road, consistent with 90 to

95 mph wind speeds. The tornado then went across a campground

along Sulphur Creek Road near Mike's Restaurant, and left tree

damage in the campground along with shingle damage to some

cabins. Tree damage continued to the east and hit an RV storage

garage with significant roof loss thrown in different directions

just north of Dale Hollow Lake Golf Course. The tornado crossed another finger of Dale Hollow Lake as it crossed into western Clinton County.

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 → (36.6744, -85.3764)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1189043. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.