TornadoLookup

Home / Kentucky / Henderson

EF3 tornado in Henderson County, Kentucky

Tornado March 28, 2009 · Henderson County, Kentucky

EF3
Rating
12.3 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$540K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Union County → Henderson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado crossed into Henderson County from Union County. The tornado was near its maximum intensity of 140 mph near the county line. A Ford Ranger pickup truck was hurled about one quarter mile. Several other vehicles were overturned. Six homes were destroyed, ten received major damage, and sixty homes and buildings received minor damage. Much of the damage occurred in and near Corydon, especially along U.S. Highway 60. The hardest-hit buildings lost most walls and the roof. At least one grain bin was flattened. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. The average path width was about 300 yards. The tornado was photographed by an emergency management official. Due to the rain-wrapped nature of the tornado and the distance the photo was taken from, the tornado was not easily identifiable in the photo. The photographer was near where the tornado lifted or dissipated, less than a mile from the Henderson County airport. However, the tornado was still some distance away at the time of the photo.

The wider storm

A strong low pressure center moved northeast from Oklahoma into south central Missouri by late afternoon, with a warm front extending east from the low across western Kentucky. The warm front served as a focusing mechanism for some of the ingredients needed for tornadogenesis.

Began near Kings Mills (37.6791, -87.7683).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 158364. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.