Thunderstorm Wind in McCreary County, Kentucky

A tree is down and blocking Laurel Cemetery Road near the McCreary County Airport.

A very anomalous storm system produced winter weather across the Rockies, Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes region and severe weather across the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valley regions. The combination of a warm and moist environment in place across the Ohio Valley region and a cold front that moved in from the west led to widespread thunderstorm development as the cold front pushed eastward through Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Additionally, a strong low level jet and low level wind shear contributed to strong thunderstorms developing that were favorable for tornadoes.

As the storms moved across western and central Kentucky during the overnight hours, they produced a tornado outbreak of historic proportions. However, as they reached eastern Kentucky during the early morning hours on the 11th, they began to lose strength, continuing to push away from the area of best instability, highest low level winds, and with temperatures continuing to cool. Several tornado warnings were issued as the rotating and once tornadic storms moved across the Jackson CWA border, along with multiple severe thunderstorm warnings. Thankfully, no tornadoes impacted eastern Kentucky, though there were numerous reports of strong thunderstorm wind gusts and trees down across portions of the area.