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EF2 tornado in Carlisle County, Kentucky

Tornado April 23, 2011 · Carlisle County, Kentucky

EF2
Rating
4.0 mi
Path length
450 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$2.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 450 yards (0.26 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The brunt of the damage occurred in the downtown area of Bardwell. One steel building was destroyed. Entire walls were demolished on older two-story brick buildings used as businesses. Several of the damaged buildings were deemed a total loss and were demolished. Approximately thirty large trees were uprooted, and about a hundred smaller trees were broken off or uprooted. More than a dozen wooden power poles were broken off. Two-by-six and two-by-four boards were driven into steel rooftops, walls of homes, and into the ground. Rooftops (including decking) were partially or completely torn off twenty homes and businesses. About fifty windows were blown out. Debris from the brick buildings blocked U.S. Highway 51 and several secondary roads, temporarily closing the roads. The tornado was witnessed by trained spotters. There were two minor injuries. About one million dollars damage occurred to an historic church. Peak winds were estimated near 120 mph. The average path width was about 450 yards.

The wider storm

Bands of thunderstorms developed along a surface cold front extending from northern Arkansas northeastward along the Ohio River. Relatively strong diurnal heating occurred south of the front, where mixed-layer cape values increased to around 1500 j/kg. Steep mid-level lapse rates and rather strong deep-layer wind shear promoted a few supercell structures within these bands of storms.

Began near Bardwell (36.8802, -89.0328).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 289995. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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