EF0 Tornado — Metcalfe, Kentucky

2018-07-20 · near Cedar Flat, Metcalfe, Kentucky

Event narrative

This short-lived spin-up occurred as a northeast-moving storm interacted with outflow winds from a southeastward-moving storm in eastern Metcalfe County. The first damage occurred along Subtle Road, where a carport was overturned and a large part of a metal outbuilding's roof was torn off, in addition to snapping numerous trees. The tornado then moved east-northeast at tree-top level over wooded areas and farm fields, doing its next major damage a mile away where it pushed a double-wide mobile home to the northwest off its blocks, breaking windows, and ripping off shingles from the roof. The tornado continued on for another mile, causing occasional tree damage, and dropping debris before lifting near the east end of Groce Road, where it peeled roofing material from a metal out building. Maximum wind speeds with this tornado were estimated at 80 to 85 mph.

Wider weather episode

Rounds of severe storms hammered southern Indiana and central Kentucky on Friday, July 20, 2018, bringing very large hail, wind damage, heavy rain, and 4 confirmed tornadoes. The largest hail report the National Weather Service received was 4 inches in diameter (softball size) in Tompkinsville, just north of the Tennessee border. The strongest measured wind gust was 70 mph at the Lexington Bluegrass Airport.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.9614, -85.5931)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 764236. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.