EF1 Tornado — Metcalfe, Kentucky

2024-05-26 · near Willow Shade, Metcalfe, Kentucky

Event narrative

The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey and found a tornado occurred on Sunday, May 26th, 2024. Despite the fact that the tornado was only on the ground for a little over one mile and one minute, it tracked very briefly through Monroe, Metcalfe, and Cumberland County.

The tornado crossed into Metcalfe County for a few yards as it tracked along Bacon Branch of Leatherwood Creek near Fowler Brown Road. Most of the tree damage associated with the tornado at this point was in Cumberland County, though minor damage did occur across the county line in Metcalfe County. After a few seconds straddling the Metcalfe and Cumberland County line, the tornado would cross into Cumberland County for good.

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 → (36.8180, -85.5960)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1189055. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.