EF1 Tornado — Jefferson, Kentucky

2008-01-29 · near Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky

Event narrative

A fast moving EF-1 tornado briefly touched down four times in the Louisville Metro area as a squall line crossed the city. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 1.5 miles over the course of it's 16 mile long track. The first touchdown was in and industrial area just off Millers Lane west of the Dixie Highway. The tornado stayed on the ground for one mile before lifting, heavily damaging a church on Dixie Highway, as well as uprooting and snapping several trees and damaging numerous homes. The tornado then dipped to earth again on the west side of the University of Louisville campus, breaking out many windows in a large residence hall and nearby building, and damaging several vehicles parked nearby. The next touchdown happened in Saint Matthews near the intersection of Shelbyville Road and Interstate 264, where extensive damage was suffered by many businesses and private properties. The fourth and final touchdown was in Anchorage where many trees were damaged, blown over, and uprooted, roofs were damaged, and a large outbuilding at a training school was destroyed. Widespread downburst wind damage occurred mainly to the south of the tornado's path as the squall line moved across the city.

Wider weather episode

A powerful cold front set off a lengthy squall line that crossed all of central Kentucky on the evening of January 29. A large number of locations had 60 to as much as 100 mph winds, causing extensive property damage. There were also a few small tornado spin-ups.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.2183, -85.7945)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 71946. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.