Tornado, McCracken
- When
- January 18, 10:12 AM CST to 10:15 AM CST
- Where
- McCracken County, 1 mi S of Paducah
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Injuries
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $75,000
- Coordinates
- 37.080, -88.630
Tornado in Kentucky, January 18, 1996
A weak, short-lived tornado associated with a line of thunderstorms caused damage to two businesses. Most of the damage was to an auto body shop, which was destroyed.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 2
- Property damage
- $75,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
A weak, short-lived tornado associated with a line of thunderstorms caused damage to two businesses. Most of the damage was to an auto body shop, which was destroyed. Two workers who were inside received minor cuts and bruises. A large window of a business next door was shattered. A stone pallet four feet high was moved.
The radar
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:12 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Cold in Oklahoma, January 18 to 20, 1996
- Blizzard in Iowa, January 18, 1996
- Heavy Snow in Washington, January 18 to 19, 1996
- Cold in Wisconsin, January 18, 1996
- High Wind in Indiana, January 18, 1996
- Flash Flood in Virginia, January 18 to 19, 1996
- Tornado in Missouri, January 18, 1996
- Flash Flood in Virginia, January 18 to 19, 1996
- Flash Flood in New York, January 18, 1996
- High Wind in Alabama, January 18 to 19, 1996
- Tornado in Arkansas, January 18, 1996
- High Wind in North Carolina, January 18 to 19, 1996
More
Every storm in Kentucky in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kentucky, 1996Warnings in Kentucky, January 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5542613.