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EF1 tornado in Union County, Kentucky

Tornado March 14, 2019 · Union County, Kentucky

EF1
Rating
9.9 mi
Path length
125 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$60K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 125 yards (0.07 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

The tornado touched down on Highway 109 in western Union County, where a semi truck and trailer was blown over. The driver sustained minor injuries. Where the tornado crossed Highway 947 a couple miles northwest of Morganfield, a Ford Taurus sedan was picked up and flipped onto its roof. The car was moved approximately 25 feet. Along the path of the tornado, dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted, and numerous power poles were broken. The roof of a farm building was partially ripped off. The tornado was widely seen and videoed by local residents. Peak winds in the tornado were estimated near 110 mph.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Henshaw (37.6317, -88.0728).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 805912. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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