EF1 Tornado — Allen, Kentucky
2020-03-03 · near Bayfork, Allen, Kentucky
Event narrative
Most of the damage was around the southeastern portion of the Alvaton community, east of Bowling Green. Several trees were either uprooted or pushed over, facing from the west-southwest to the east-northeast just west of Highway 231 on Fairview Road. The wind swath was about 200 yards wide. Just east of Highway 231 a large 40 x 60 storage barn for a camper had its roof partially lifted downwind to the east northeast. The metal siding was flung up to 150 yards into the trees. The tree damage continued along Alvaton- Scottsville Road into Marble Gate Ct. Several homes sustained roof damage, with several porches partially lifted up causing structural damage. One home on Marble Gate Court had four 20-pound steel chairs flung about 50 yards and the 35-pound table thrown 25 yards. Portions of the porch covering were blown 125 yards into the yard of their next-door neighbors yard, 2 of which punctured the house like a flying 2 by 4 missile. There were also portions of the deck impaled in the ground. The damage swatch then increased to about 225 yards and winds increased to 80 to 85 mph. There were at least three trees laying on homes.
Just east off Claypool Boyce Road... there was a distinct change in the tree pattern. Instead of just going to the northeast trees were now going to the northwest, north and northeast. A large 2 x 8 went flying and got wedged between the windshield wiper and the windshield but incredibly did not crack the windshield. This is where a small tornado formed within the straight-line wind path, with winds between 80 and 85 mph. Residents reported half inch hail, followed by a surge in lightning, then quiet, then a 20 second loud roar with popping in their ears followed by complete silence again. Further east in the 500 block of Kara Court, there was significant tree damage with the back of the house being uplifted and insulation being thrown upwind and downwind around the back of the house. Trees were laying in all directions with lots of twisting and many snapped trees. At the 200 block of Cross Creek Court, the clearest evidence of trees are facing all eight inter-cardinal headings. In this area, trees were snapped and uprooted all over the place.
The survey team estimated well over 500 trees in a 1 mile stretch had been uprooted snapped or pushed over. Two of the snapped trees landed on pick up trucks. Winds increased to EF1 range of 95 mph and a width of 225 yards. At the 2400 block of WG Talley Road was the most significant damage of the entire survey. Three barns were destroyed, 2 of them were concreted in strong firm footers. One of the barns was 30 x 80, one was 150 x 100, and one was 12 x 16 along with numerous sheds destroyed, and debris was thrown in all directions downwind up to 500 yards. A 5000 pound horse trailer was thrown to the northwest 70 yards.
A very well-built family residence took a direct hit from an EF2 tornado, with the front side of the home having the plywood exposed and with most of the shingles gone but the rest of the house fully intact due to the house having all the proper clips, braces, and rebar. Wind speeds at this point were 116 mph with a width of 250 yards. EF-1 Tree damage continued into Allen County along Allen Springs Road. The tornado lifted just north of Bailey School Road in far NW Allen County.
Wider weather episode
During the day of March 2nd, southerly warm moist air moved through Kentucky from Tennessee just ahead of an upper trough and cold front. As a result, a series of strong storms moved across south central Kentucky late on the evening of March 2nd and into the morning of March 3rd. Along with large hail, high winds, and some flash flooding, one particular storm produced a brief but strong tornado in southeast Warren County that crossed over into Allen County.
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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 883403. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.