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EF1 tornado in Christian County, Kentucky

Tornado May 10, 2016 · Christian County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
5.3 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
$135K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Christian County → Muhlenberg 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 touched down near Kentucky Highway 813, where a couple of barns sustained moderate to heavy damage. A few trees were down. Several emergency management officials witnessed the tornado, which was captured on camera. Peak winds in this portion of the path were estimated near 90 mph. The tornado continued moving east-northeast across woods and fields into Muhlenberg County.

The wider storm

An outbreak of supercells with large hail and isolated tornadoes affected western Kentucky during the afternoon and early evening. The initial round of thunderstorms occurred early in the afternoon over northwest Kentucky. These storms, which produced a major hailstorm and flash flood in the Owensboro area, were triggered by a weak upper-level low over northern Illinois. This initial round of thunderstorms produced an outflow of cooler air that settled south into southwest Kentucky. By mid-afternoon, isolated supercells with tornadoes fired up along the leading edge of cooler air. Strong westerly upper-level winds associated with the upper-level low over Illinois provided ample wind shear for supercells. A southwest wind flow of moist and unstable air in the lower levels of the atmosphere provided fuel for the storms. Low-level winds up to around 40 knots enhanced low-level wind shear, providing a favorable environment for tornadoes. The supercells lingered well into the evening.

Began near Apex (37.1132, -87.3479).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 628409. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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