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EF1 tornado in Caldwell County, Kentucky

Tornado April 25, 2011 · Caldwell County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
15.4 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Lyon County → Caldwell 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

The tornado continued from Lyon County into Caldwell County. Near U.S. Highway 641, several trees were uprooted and snapped. A carport was destroyed, but damage to homes was mainly to shingles. To the east of Fredonia, a barn was destroyed with debris blown several hundred yards. Nearby barns sustained major roof damage, and several power poles were snapped. To the northeast of this area, mainly tree and shingle damage occurred. The tornado was on the ground intermittently throughout the path. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph. The average path width was 75 yards.

The wider storm

A pronounced mid-level shortwave trough and associated 70 to 80 knot mid-level jet progressed northeastward from the southern Plains across Arkansas and Missouri. An associated surface low developed northeastward from southwest Missouri toward northwest Illinois. A gradual increase in the warm sector southerly low level jet occurred as the surface low deepened. Increasing vertical wind shear in the moist and unstable warm sector resulted in organized severe storms. The storms were organized into bowing lines with embedded supercell structures.

Began near Bakers (37.1729, -88.0616).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 290411. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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