EF1 Tornado — Garrard, Kentucky

2021-12-11 · near Marksbury, Garrard, Kentucky

0.6 mi

Path length

100 yds

Path width

Event narrative

A tornado formed about a half mile south of a previous tornado along a distinct line break seen on radar. The NWS drone found the tornado touched down just southwest of Bluegrass Diesel Performance auto body shop. The tornado did major roof damage to two barns, each about 30 by 40 feet, along with sporadic twisting and uprooting of a few trees. The tornado crossed US 27 and hit another barn just northwest of Locust Lane and lifted shortly after that, based on the NWS Louisville drone views.

This tornado was intermittent and was skipping with peak wind speeds of 90 mph, and had a width of 100 yards.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6679, -84.6279)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 996918. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.