EF1 Tornado — Boyle, Kentucky

2025-05-30 · near Craintown, Boyle, Kentucky

Event narrative

An NWS damage survey team determined that an EF2 tornado with peak winds of 125 mph, maximum width of 450 yards, and track length of 5.55 miles initially touched down on the morning of Friday, May 30th in southeastern Washington County, Kentucky.

As the tornado crossed into Boyle County, some hardwoods were noted to be snapped north of Cocanougher Road,

and again in a grove of trees north of White Road. The final

damage point was noted along Battlefield Road about 1.25 miles NNW

of Perryville, were some hardwoods were uprooted and softwoods

were snapped. From here the tornado lifted.

Wider weather episode

During the morning hours on May 30th, an upper-level shortwave trough and an associated surface low pressure system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. The surface low center tracked across central Kentucky, roughly paralleling the Western Kentucky and Bluegrass Parkways. As the low moved across the area, showers and thunderstorms developed as moisture increased from the south ahead of the center of the low. Within the warm sector of the disturbance, around 500 J/kg of mixed-layer CAPE was present, which was sufficient for modest convective development. Wind shear and helicity values were quite strong, and were enhanced by a warm front which extended to the northeast of the center of the surface low.

While most convection with this system was sub-severe, one cell became attached to the warm front, using the enhanced wind shear and helicity in the front's vicinity to develop strong rotation aloft. While initially this cell produced non-tornadic wind damage, it ultimately produced an EF2 tornado which tracked across Washington and Boyle County before lifting. A separate EF1 tornado was produced by the same cell a few minutes later over Mercer County near Burgin. Convection would then weaken as it continued eastward, with the system exiting the area later in the morning on the 30th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6650, -85.0260)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1267588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.