EF3 Tornado — Christian, Kentucky

2009-04-10 · near Mannington, Christian, Kentucky

Event narrative

This was the second and more intense of the tornadoes spawned by a supercell that tracked across Christian County. Near Mannington, a garage was destroyed, and a house was levelled. The main debris pile from the house was about 50 feet away. The 2,500 square-foot house was poorly anchored to the foundation. Two persons in the house were injured. One of the victims was thrown about 70 feet and suffered a broken pelvis. Footage of the tornado was taken by witnesses along the Pennyrile Parkway and shown on a local media outlet. Peak winds were estimated near 140 mph. The tornado tracked a short distance into Hopkins County before lifting.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system tracked east to the Lower Ohio Valley, with a trailing cold front sweeping east across western Kentucky. Storms developed and increased along the advancing cold front as they moved into increasingly unstable air. Very strong low level wind shear was favorable for tornadoes. The storms became increasingly organized, with line segments and supercells moving at over 45 mph.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.1199, -87.4888)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 159908. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.