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EF1 tornado in Jefferson County, Kentucky

Tornado February 28, 2011 · Jefferson County, Kentucky

EF1

Rating

3.0 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

$7K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Clark County, Indiana → Jefferson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 is a continuation of the tornado that hit Utica in Clark county Indiana. After crossing the Ohio River the tornado moved into Harrods Creek. Numerous hardwood trees were snapped and a section of roof was blown off a house. The tornado was rated an EF-1 with a maximum wind speed of 100 mph and a width of 100 yards. The tornado lifted just west of US 42.

The wider storm

A cold front moved through southern Indiana and central Kentucky on the morning of February 28. A strong low low level jet developed ahead of this front with winds of 60-80 knots at 2-3 thousand feet, resulting in very high speed shear and storm relative helicity values. A squall line with bowing segments developed to the west of the Louisville forecast area and crossed the region during the early to mid morning hours. This line produced multiple tornadoes across the region as well as straight line wind damage.

Began near Harrods Creek (38.3369, -85.6414).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Henry County EF1 Lincoln County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 286982. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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