EF3 Tornado — Jefferson, Kentucky
2025-04-02 · near Jeffersontown, Jefferson, Kentucky
Event narrative
A tornado touched down, beginning along Watterson Trail and Rivanna Dr, continuing into a heavily industrial section west of Blankenbaker Dr, crossing near the cloverleaf of I-265 and I-64, and then continuing into some residential areas along Beckley
Station Road, crossing Shelbyville Rd, and then lifting near Long Run Rd and Pope Dale Rd. It was on the ground for just under 10 miles and lasted 10 minutes. Its widest point is estimated at 350 yards and peak winds of 145 mph, or an EF3 tornado.
A few trees were uprooted as the tornado first touched down near Rivanna Dr. and Watterson Trail. It was mostly elevated as it continued to near the Jeffersontown municipal building, where it peeled back roofing on a metal warehouse and topped a few trees and one uprooted tree. The tornado moved east northeast peeling back the roof of a tall metal warehouse building just off Electron Dr.
The tornado intensified along Ampere Court and Ampere Drive. The northeast side of a brick institutional building was completely blown out. Trees were uprooted and insulation was thrown in multiple directions. A large metal building had a failure of
X-braces in the lateral load resisting system. Metal pieces and insulation were thrown into trees and road signs. Immediately next-door, at KEP electric there was a complete destruction of another building, which had a brick bottom half and a metal top
half, and the metal and insulation was thrown in every direction, some of which traveled close to a mile. This was the strongest part of the tornado, and it only maintained this strength briefly. Tornado wind speeds were between 140 and 145 mph, EF3, with a width of 200 yards in this area. Some very subtle terrain is noted on topographic maps just west southwest of this area as well as a relative clearing of buildings, and these factors may briefly have influenced the strength of the tornado.
A concrete warehouse building along Technology Drive had the walls blown down and roofing material lifted up and twisted in many directions. There was a collapse of pre-cast concrete tilt-up panels. There were several collapsed light poles as well. This
was the widest part of the tornado, an estimated 350 yards. At J & J, Transportation on Plantside Drive, a metal warehouse, had a failure of X-braces in the lateral load resisting system. Debris from the building was thrown at least a half a mile. At the Chick-fil-A across the street, bricks were peeled off the building, a large amount of roofing material was twisted and lifted. At 11900 Plantside Dr. (next door to Chick-fil-A) the metal roof of a brick building was peeled and thrown, and an extremely large air
conditioning unit was thrown off the roof to a distance of 75 yards, weighing several hundred pounds. Farther east on Plantside Drive behind the Interstate Battery building, at Creation Kingdom, a large section of the metal building was opened up, and metal support beams were twisted and bent. At Warren Technology at Campus Place, two brick walls were knocked out. The metal roof was peeled off, windows blown out, trees were uprooted, and many vehicles were moved and windows all blown out. Papa Johns
headquarters building had some windows blown out, and some HVAC units damaged on the roof, but overall the building fared very well.
On Pope Lick Road, trees were twisted and topped, power poles were snapped. At Interstate 64 at English Station Road, signs were twisted and damaged and numerous trees were topped, twisted, and uprooted. The Stables Apartments had roof damage,
windows blown out, and car windows blown out. At Beckley Hills Drive at Beckley Hills Road, there were multiple homes with siding off, shingles off, blue tarps on roofs, gutter damage, and many missing shingles. There were several areas in Floyd s Fork Park
that had trees topped and uprooted. The last damage point was off of Flat Rock Road at 1710 Pope Dale Rd, where there were a few top trees and a couple of uprooted trees in a forested area.
Wider weather episode
On the night of April 2nd, 2025, a cold front approached the lower Ohio Valley. Along and ahead of the cold front, numerous supercells developed over southern Illinois and western Kentucky. These storms tracked eastward and occasionally grew upscale into a QLCS with bowing segments. Storms lasted all night and into the morning hours, as the cold front began to stall over the lower Ohio Valley. These storms left behind a wake of damage in many counties in central Kentucky. Over the next few days, waves of showers and storms rode along the cold front bringing lots of rain which lead to widespread flash and areal flooding. Showers and storms came through daily, until the evening of April 6th. Later, this flooding turned into historic and near-record breaking river flooding along many river basins.
Overall, 6 tornadoes touched down from late evening into the overnight on April 2nd and 3rd, including one EF-3, one EF-2's, and four EF-1's. Many additional pockets of wind damage occurred, as well as widespread areal and flash flooding through late week into the weekend. Some river crests were historic, including a new record crest at Camp Nelson on the Kentucky River and the #2 all time crest at Frankfort. The crest at McAlpine Upper on the Ohio River was #8 all time.
View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1864, -85.5820)
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1258687. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.