EF2 tornado in Boyle County, Kentucky

Tornado December 11, 2021 · Boyle County, Kentucky

EF2

Rating

14.9 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Boyle County → Boyle County → Boyle County → Boyle County → Garrard County → Garrard County → Garrard County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 began near Danville-Boyle County Airport along Simpson Lane in Junction City. Roof damage occurred in this neighborhood, and then the tornado continued toward the airport. Three hangar buildings were destroyed and several aircraft were mangled and heavily damaged. The tornado then crossed Airport Road to the northeast where a home had the roof completely destroyed and a nearby barn was severely damaged. After this point northeast of the airport the tornado did not produce noticeable damage in nearby farm fields.

The wider storm

Strong southern winds brought warm temperatures and plenty of moisture into an environment of strong wind shear ahead of an advancing cold front. This resulted in unusually warm temperatures for a December day and the ingredients to produce a historic tornado outbreak and flash flooding. This included multiple long track tornadoes. Central Kentucky saw 18 tornadoes that injured 96 and killed 18. An additional death occurred in a flash flood.

Began near Shelby City (37.5792, -84.7761).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF4 Mayfield Tornado (2021) 58 dead EF3 Bowling Green Tornado (2021) 17 dead EF3 Taylor County 1 dead EF3 Logan County EF2 Warren County EF2 Hart County EF1 Hardin County EF1 Spencer County EF1 Marion County EF1 Madison County EF1 Madison County EF0 Monroe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 996912. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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