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EF2 tornado in Webster County, Kentucky

Tornado October 18, 2007 · Webster County, Kentucky

EF2
Rating
10.2 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
5
Injuries
$2.5M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

Three residences were destroyed, and ten others were damaged. Four of the damaged residences were deemed uninhabitable. Six chicken houses were destroyed. A rehabilitation center for troubled young adults received about 2 million dollars in damage. Four persons were seriously injured, and a fifth person received minor injuries. One of the injuries occurred when the tornado picked up a vehicle and tossed it. The occupant of the vehicle was ejected. The other four injuries occurred at a modular home on Kentucky 494. The modular home was nearly obliterated, with debris blown across nearby fields. The home's steel frame was thrown about 300 feet. All four occupants were seriously injured, including broken vertebrae and a punctured lung. Numerous roads were blocked by downed trees. Peak winds were estimated at 135 mph. The average path width was 250 yards.

The wider storm

The second and more significant severe weather outbreak of the day occurred as a cold front swept east across the Mississippi Valley. Scattered thunderstorms developed along and ahead of the front late in the afternoon. The storms organized into supercells and short lines during the evening. Over a dozen tornadoes occurred in western Kentucky.

Began near Dixon (37.5302, -87.6871).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 59844. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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