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EF1 tornado in Adair County, Kentucky

Tornado November 5, 2018 · Adair County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
3.8 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$750K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This skipping tornado first touched down along Campbellsville Rd near the community of Cane Valley, where it downed power lines as it snapped tree limbs and uprooted several large trees. Moving eastward over open fields, it tore most of the roof off a barn at the end of Doug White Road, plastering insulation from the barn onto the northeast side of the adjacent home. To the north of the barn and home, it tossed a 1500 lb. hay roll southeast over a fence. From here, the tornado raced east-northeast over more fields, where it snapped the tops off a few trees before it hit the next farm, at Milky Way Lane on Mt. Carmel Road. Here it destroyed one large outbuilding and tore much of the roof off another in addition to destroying two small grain hoppers. Flying debris damaged at least two other buildings and vehicles, with roofing debris scattered a quarter of a mile to the northeast. Across the road from these buildings, the tornado tore the roof off and partially collapsed the wall of another large outbuilding. Flying debris from this building damaged another outbuilding, while columns on the southwest-facing front porch of the farm home were blown out as the porch roof was briefly elevated.

The tornado continued eastward, snapping the trunks of several large trees along Butler Creek and damaging carports and a metal outbuilding along Holmes Bend Rd and Turkey Trace. Again moving over open land, the final two buildings damaged were metal outbuildings on Willis Rd and near the intersection of West Egypt Rd and Knifley Rd. It also toppled the sign of the Green River Bait and Grocery before lifting as it crossed Knifley Rd.

The wider storm

A potent low pressure system moved through the Midwest Monday, November 5, 2018. Showers and thunderstorms formed out ahead of the cold front trailing from the center of the system. Central Kentucky saw mainly heavy rain, but as the warm front lifted into southern Kentucky, a few storms became severe, causing damage. Three weak tornadoes were confirmed. Flooding was a minor issue as well, as saturated soils continued to allow water to pool from heavy rain events.

Began near Cane Vly (37.1787, -85.3239).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 786098. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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