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F2 tornado in Lyon County, Kentucky

Tornado November 15, 2005 · Lyon County, Kentucky

F2
Rating
44.0 mi
Whole path
275 yd
Path width
1
Death
20
Injuries
$8.6M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Graves County → Calloway County → Marshall County → Lyon County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 275 yards (0.16 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado entered Lyon County from Marshall County as it crossed Kentucky Lake. The tornado reached the lakeshore at Hillman Ferry campground, within the Land Between The Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area. The tornado then moved east-northeast across the forests of LBL, producing a narrow swath of downed trees. After exiting LBL and crossing Lake Barkley, the tornado struck a subdivision on the east side of the lake. Damage to the well-constructed homes in this subdivision was estimated to be the result of F-2 winds. The tornado proceeded east-northeast across Interstate 24, passing near the 46-mile marker, before lifting at the community of Saratoga.

The wider storm

The total path length of the tornado across Graves, Calloway, Marshall, and Lyon Counties was 44 miles. Estimated time on the ground was 65 minutes.

Began near Kuttawa (36.9333, -88.1833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5479520. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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