EF2 tornado in Hickman County, Kentucky

The tornado crossed into Hickman County from Fulton County on U.S. Highway 51 just north of Crutchfield. Peak winds in this area were estimated near 115 mph. The EF-2 tornado damaged or destroyed several pole barns along U.S. Highway 51. One barn was over 100 feet long and was anchored by telephone poles set in concrete. Most of the poles were snapped. A few poles were pulled up, with one thrown about 50 yards. A section of U.S. 51 was closed due to downed power poles and debris. Large trees were uprooted or snapped. There was minor house damage. As the tornado continued northeast across Kentucky Highway 1070 and a nearby road, three homes were damaged. One of the houses sustained damage to an outside wall, which was pushed in about three inches. The carport attached to that wall was blown away. A two-story garage was destroyed, along with other sheds and another carport. The other two houses sustained damage to garages and siding. Windows were blown out, and a section of roof was blown off one house. The maximum path width of about 600 yards was in this area. The average path width was closer to 300 yards. The tornado then weakened significantly and produced only minor tree damage until it dissipated about a mile southwest of Fulgham.

A surface cold front extended from the Chicago area southwestward across the eastern fringes of the St. Louis metro area to a weak low pressure center over southeast Missouri. The low ejected northeast across southern and eastern Illinois, with the trailing cold front moving east across the Lower Ohio Valley. A broken cluster of severe thunderstorms, with embedded supercells and small bow echoes, moved east-northeastward across western Kentucky. Increasing south-southwesterly low level winds brought plenty of moisture northward into the Lower Ohio Valley, aiding in sufficient destabilization for supercells. The two primary supercells of the night followed similar paths across southern parts of the Purchase area, the Lakes region, and the southern Pennyrile region. Heavy rainfall with the storms, in combination with saturated ground from the May 1 storms, produced localized flash flooding.