EF2 Tornado — Carlisle, Kentucky

2011-04-23 · near Bardwell, Carlisle, Kentucky

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.8802, -89.0328)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 289995. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.