TornadoLookup

Home / Kentucky / Mccracken

EF1 tornado in McCracken County, Kentucky

Tornado October 31, 2013 · McCracken County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
2.1 mi
Path length
225 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 225 yards (0.13 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

Peak winds were estimated near 100 mph. The damage began as trees were snapped just east of Melber on County Road 1820. Further northeast, a home near U.S. Highway 45 suffered damage as the garage was blown in and the porch was lifted up and damaged. This caused some damage to an interior wall inside the home. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, and tree limbs were broken off. Other homes near U.S. Highway 45 received shingle, siding, and gutter damage. Just south of St. Johns on the east side of Route 45, a camper was blown over and a few more homes had minor roof damage. Trees and tree limbs were blown down.

The wider storm

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes occurred ahead of a cold front. Thunderstorms increased in coverage over southeast Missouri and then spread east-northeast into southern Illinois and western Kentucky during the late afternoon and evening. A surface low pressure wave over the Ozark Mountain region accelerated eastward in advance of a compact upper-level shortwave over the southern Plains. A mid-level dry slot overspread the surface warm sector, where dew points were in the low to mid 60's. Extremely strong wind shear compensated for weak instability. Strong forcing along the front and a moist low level air mass contributed to a forced line of storms, including some without lightning.

Began near Melber (36.9447, -88.7089).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 477113. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.