EF2 Tornado — Mccracken, Kentucky

2019-03-14 · near Cammelia, Mccracken, Kentucky

Event narrative

This multi-county tornado entered McCracken County from Ballard County near the community of Lovelaceville. The tornado tracked within a couple of miles either side of U.S. Highway 62 for most of its path in McCracken County. The tornado intermittently reached EF-2 intensity from the Ballard County line to about two miles southeast of Barkley Regional Airport. A total of 25 dwellings were damaged along the path in McCracken County. Five businesses were damaged, and 20 residences were damaged. The damage was categorized as minor for 14 of the residences, major for one, and five were destroyed. Major structural damage included partial loss of roofs or walls. Minor damage to homes included the loss of shingles. Dozens of barns, outbuildings, garages, or grain bins were destroyed. A church, located on U.S. Highway 62 near Highway 305, lost much of the roof structure as well as a large part of a second story exterior wall. This is where the tornado reached its maximum intensity, with estimated peak winds near 125 mph. A total of 40 pre-schoolers were inside a day care facility in the church, but none were directly injured. At least ten vehicles sustained damage in this area near the church. The only injury occurred on U.S. Highway 62 near the church, where a grain bin was blown on top of a pickup truck traveling eastbound. During the final few miles of its track, the tornado weakened as it moved through the western part of the city of Paducah. In the western part of Paducah, the tornado moved across U.S. Highway 60 and the city's main shopping mall. The tornado dissipated shortly after crossing Interstate 24 between exits 3 and 4. The roofs of the shopping mall and a nearby strip mall were damaged. Several businesses in the mall area and along Interstate 24 sustained minor damage, mostly to roofs. Windows were blown out of vehicles and buildings. A moving semi truck was lifted along Interstate 24 and was blown into the median in a jack-knife position. Along the entire track, dozens of utility poles were down, causing extensive power outages for nearly 10,000 customers. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. Video of the tornado was captured by personnel at the Paducah National Weather Service office, which the tornado missed by about two miles.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system produced multiple weather hazards. Scattered supercell thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front on the morning and early afternoon of the 14th, producing isolated wind damage, large hail, and several tornadoes. The supercells were preceded by widespread rain and thunderstorms the previous night, which caused some pockets of flooding in western Kentucky. The low pressure center tracked northeast across the Plains to the Great Lakes region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.9824, -88.8300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 805910. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.