EF1 tornado in Madison County, Kentucky

The tornado touched down just west of Highway 595, northwest of the Kirksville community in western Madison county. There were some twisted trees in a forest grove. The tornado then hit an old farmhouse as well as a 30 X 50 foot barn. Damage from the barn was thrown to the southeast, east, northeast, and north direction. This tornado was very intermittent and was skipping with peak wind speeds of 90 mph, and widths ranging from 40 yards to a max of 75 yards.

The NWS drone found a few twisted trees up to a quarter of a mile northeast of the farmhouse. There was no damage past that point. Immediately north of the farmhouse tornado damage, there was an older barn destroyed as well as an older tree knocked over. This was straight line wind damage of 50 to 55 mph.

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.