EF2 Tornado — Hart, Kentucky

2021-12-11 · near Rowletts, Hart, Kentucky

Event narrative

This tornado formed approximately 1.6 miles west southwest of Rowletts near L and N Turnpike Road and tracked northeast for approximately 14.2 miles before crossing into western Green County. The tornado continued approximately 9.7 miles into Green County before dissipating at 0215 CST. In Hart County, the same supercell which came from Bowling Green extended another tornado to the ground on the down-sloping side of Fisher Ridge, just east of I-65 on Highway 335. Here, many barns collapsed on tobacco farms and hardwood trees were snapped. The tornado then continued through Rowletts where snapped/uprooted large trees and roof damage was found at the Caveland Country Club. The tornado then encountered terrain on Dawson Knob where little damage was found, however the tornado quickly intensified on the down-sloping side. The tornado continued down Shady Lane Church Rd. where it destroyed many homes, took roofs off structures and homes, collapsed well-built barns, destroyed an Amish schoolhouse, snapped/uprooted many trees, downed many powerlines, and took the lives of many farm animals. The tornado weakened to the northeast of Hardyville where damage was determined to be EF1 and EF0 to the Green County border.

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 → (37.2220, -85.9270)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 997240. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.