Mayfield Tornado (2021)

This tornado is a continuation of the western Kentucky (Mayfield) tornado and will go down as the longest continuous tornado track on record in the Commonwealth of Kentucky at 163 miles (plus another two miles in Tennessee). This tornado developed in Obion County, Tennessee near Woodland Mills Road before tracking to the northeast through western Kentucky and on into central Kentucky (see Storm Data from the Memphis, Tennessee and the Paducah, Kentucky offices for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado). The tornado finally came to an end in Grayson County, Kentucky at Rough River Dam State Park. This is the third of five segments of this tornado in the Louisville, Kentucky County Warning Area. As the tornado entered Grayson County, the path crossed the Rough River about 1 mile WNW of the Lafayette Golf Club. The tornado snapped several hardwood trees in this area before moving almost a half mile across an open flood plain. The tornado then continued northeast through a heavily wooded area, continuing to snap and uproot hardwood trees along the path. There some strong EF-1 intensity damage happened in a development area a mile north of the Falls of Rough State Resort where intense snarling of a cluster of hardwood trees was indicative of winds just over 100 mph. A well built structure was mostly spared as an inflow vortex fed into the main tornado path around the southeast side of the house. Extensive tree damage occurred in this area where over 100 hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted.

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.