EF2 Tornado — Christian, Kentucky

2018-02-24 · near Hopkinsville, Christian, Kentucky

Event narrative

This EF-2 tornado touched down on the south side of Hopkinsville, just west of the junction of the Pennyrile Parkway and U.S. Highway 41. Three apartment buildings near the intersection of the Pennyrile Parkway and U.S. 41 were destroyed. The roof and most walls were blown down on the second story. Another apartment building was heavily damaged. All nine injuries occurred in the apartment complex, which consisted of two-and-a-half story buildings. One car was flipped and blown some distance. Two others were blown from their original positions, and several others were damaged. At least four retail buildings sustained major roof and siding damage, with windows and doors blown in or broken. Four barns were heavily damaged or flattened, and four houses sustained mainly minor roof damage. Two large commercial buildings were damaged, with one sustaining major roof and wall damage. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. The damage east of the city near Highways 68 and 80 was relatively minor, consisting of uprooted trees, destroyed barns, and shingle damage. Peak winds were estimated near 135 mph at the destroyed apartment complex on the south side of Hopkinsville.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.8315, -87.4835)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 735599. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.