EF1 tornado in Jefferson County, Kentucky

The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey for south Louisville near the Fairdale community and determined an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 100 mph occurred the evening of March 30th, 2025. The tornado had a path length of 5.43 miles and a width of 30 yards.

Minor tree damage and structural damage was observed just south of the Gene Snyder Freeway off the Stonestreet exit along Bear Camp road and Blevins Gap Road and was determined to be straight line wind damage. The first observable tornado damage was along Mitchell Hill Road and Keys Ferry Road near Fairdale Elementary School. Large branches were snapped and twisted in varying directions within the tree, as well as trees snapped with a rolled shed nearby. Some of the most notable damage occurred near a few homes along Mitchell Hill Road, where several trees were twisted, uprooted, and snapped. Winds in this location were determined to have been between 85 and 100 mph. An injury was reported to have happened to a resident in this vicinity, where a man was trying to hold a door closed when the wind was strong and hurt his arm.

The tornado continued across Mitchell Hill Road across neighborhoods where several properties observed tree damage and fence damage. The most notable damage was to a garage that was moved off a foundation with estimated wind speeds of 97 mph. The

tornado continued across Mount Holly Road and did damage near a church. A garage lost roofing material and it was lofted into nearby trees. Pockets of tree damage occurred along Wilson Creek and continued near Holly Avenue. Damage occurred to a garage barn where much of the building was destroyed and several wood planks

were impaled in the back and front of a nearby residence.

The tornado continued across the National Turnpike roadway and impacted a brick one story residence, where the tornado hit with such force that the brick was damaged and the windows were broken out of the home. Portions of the roof were lofted well into the

distance, including the garage barn behind the property. Estimated wind speeds of 100 mph occurred at this location. The tornado continued across South Park Road where garage damage was observed and twisted large branches in trees. The tornado continued eastward where several trees and structure damage was observed

along Barricks Road (just south of Hillview Drive) where the tornado continued to produce estimated wind speeds of between 90 and 100 mph.

Across I-65 the tornado worked into an industrial park between Blue Lick Rd and Preston Hwy south of Interchange Dr. There were a few trees damaged with one notable tree that was split with the large branches blown to the west of the tree. There were visible marks on the ground where the branches had landed and dragged

across the ground for about 3 to 4 feet towards the west after hitting the ground. Wind speeds were between 60 and 75 mph in these locations, and no observable damage was seen beyond this point.

On March 30th, a surface low along with the system's cold front dropped southeast from eastern Iowa through southern Indiana and central Kentucky. This resulted in a northeast to southwest oriented line of convection ahead of the front. The added shear from the surface low resulted in organized storms that produced damaging winds and 5 tornadoes throughout north central Kentucky. Wind damage continued farther east into the Bluegrass region, near Lexington.