TornadoLookup

Home / Kentucky / Caldwell

EF2 tornado in Caldwell County, Kentucky

Tornado October 18, 2007 · Caldwell County, Kentucky

EF2
Rating
8.8 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
$250K
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

Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Trees landed across roads. At least a half dozen small barns were destroyed. Several roofs were lifted and torn off houses. Major structural damage was reported to seven homes. Windows were broken in houses. Peak winds were estimated near 110 mph. The damage path ended very close to the boundary of the Pennyrile State Forest.

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 Otter Pond (37.0300, -87.8417).

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 59849. 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.