EF0 tornado in Butler County, Kentucky

The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey and determined that an EF0 85 mph tornado occurred in southwest Morgantown during the evening of Friday, May 22, 2026.

Tree damage was first observed at a farm at the end of Viles Cemetery Road, where several treetops were damaged and pointing in different directions ranging from the southwest to southeast consistent with a convergent pattern from the small tornado. The damage continued to the east toward Viles Cemetery where some large branches were on the ground. Nearby Viles Cemetery Road, a field of tall grasses were bent and laying south in the direction of the tornado inflow.

The tornado continued across Gardner Lane where Final Finish Repair Shop sustained extensive roof damage. The roof was peeled back to the northwest direction, while a lot of insulation was carried eastward into nearby trees and power lines. Right to the

east of Final Finish Repair Shop, the tornado lifted with no additional ground damage. However, insulation from Final Finish Repair Shop was lofted into nearby fields, across the Natcher Parkway and in nearby trees at the Butler County High School Football Stadium. In total the short lived tornado was 0.32 miles long, although insulation from the Final Finish Repair Shop was observed at least another third of a mile from the end of the tornado as it was carried by the thunderstorm.

A unique event with limited severe weather and flash flooding occurred during the evening hours on May 22nd. A surface low pressure system slowly moved across western Kentucky, with a warm front extending to the east-northeast across much of Kentucky. Along and south of this warm front, precipitable water values exceeding 1.7 inches lead to showers and a few thunderstorms which produced efficient rainfall rates. Where heavier showers and storms trained over eastern Shelby, Henry, and western Franklin County, a few instances of flash flooding were observed. Closer to the surface low pressure center, marginal amounts of instability (around 250-500 J/kg MLCAPE) combined with relatively impressive amounts of low-level shear and helicity along the warm front to produce miniature supercells. One of these mini supercells produced a brief EF0 tornado in Butler County near Butler County High School.