EF1 tornado in Warren County, Kentucky
Tornado February 24, 2018 · Warren County, Kentucky
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Warren County → Barren County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
The tornado touched down near the intersection of Hays Pondsville Rd and FH Roundtree Rd, destroying a small metal shed, overturning a trailer, flattening a fence, and causing minor roof damage to a home. The very narrow tornado - only 30 to 50 yards wide - continued northeast, uprooting trees and damaging outbuildings on neighboring property, including breaking out all of the windows of one building. The path continued northeast over open countryside, snapping tree limbs of several trees. It then tore the porch off the east side of a home on the south side of Highway 68-80, depositing debris into nearby woods.
Crossing 68-80, the tornado did its greatest damage, tearing a very large pine tree out of the ground and tossing it 100 feet over a home, spattering the front of the home with mud, ripping holes in the roof, and destroying the attached garage. Despite this intense damage, an open-sided outbuilding just 25 yards away suffered no visible damage. Continuing northeast, the tornado snapped several more trees before destroying two more outbuildings, scattering debris a quarter of a mile downwind. The tornado also damaged the roof of a home 100 feet east of the outbuildings, and did porch, deck, and roof damage to the neighboring residence, plastering the east side of the home with insulation. Crossing over Lewis Rd into Barren County, the roof of a sunroom was torn of the next home and an outbuilding destroyed. The tornado then moved over open countryside where drone footage showed it deposited the remainder of its debris. The total path length of the tornado in both counties was 1.9 miles.
The wider storm
A stalled frontal boundary interacting with highly anomalous moisture from the Gulf of Mexico interacted with multiple weather systems that brought widespread heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms to central Kentucky February 24 through the early morning hours February 25. A Flash Flood Emergency was issued for Jefferson County, KY including Louisville metro. There were over 50 water rescues alone in Jefferson County that evening. Widespread flash flooding occurred with most streams and creeks reaching record levels.
In addition, across south central Kentucky, 7 tornadoes developed along a warm front during the afternoon and evening hours. The strongest tornado was an EF-2 that tracked over 11 miles in Logan County and tragically killed a woman in her home. As a squall line moved through during the late evening and early morning hours, damaging winds occurred across central Kentucky.
Began near Hays (37.0186, -86.1459).
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 735028. 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.
We couldn’t get your location. Check that location access is allowed for this site, or type an address.