EF1 tornado in Graves County, Kentucky

This EF-1 tornado touched down about 1 mile southwest of Bell City and moved northeast across Highway 97 into Calloway County. The majority of the path and associated damage occurred in Calloway County. In the Graves County portion, a few barns were damaged or destroyed. A house sustained minor damage. Many dozens of trees, some very large, were snapped or uprooted. At least one eyewitness observed the tornado. A convergent damage pattern consisting of dozens of very large uprooted trees was visible from Kentucky Highway 97. Peak winds were estimated near 100 mph. The tornado path continued into Calloway County.

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes occurred across western Kentucky. Most of the severe weather was along and south of a Paducah to Madisonville line. North of that line, serious flash flooding resulted in a fatality. A surface low pressure center tracked rapidly north-northeast from Arkansas to the upper Mississippi Valley, dragging a warm front north across western Kentucky. Instability was adequate for tornadoes and severe storms in the presence of very strong wind shear. A very moist air mass resulted in heavy rainfall, which produced localized flash flooding due to the water-logged ground. Locally 5 to 6 inches of rain had fallen over the previous week. Rainfall rates in these thunderstorms were locally one-half to one inch per hour.