Kentucky, 1996

Tornado in Kentucky, May 5, 1996

May 5, 1996 · NWS LMK · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An F1 tornado estimated at around 100 mph embedded in downburst winds moved from just north of Ekron to 3 miles southeast of Brandenburg. 25 residences received damage.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
10
Property damage
$500,000
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 LMK wrote it up.

An F1 tornado estimated at around 100 mph embedded in downburst winds moved from just north of Ekron to 3 miles southeast of Brandenburg. 25 residences received damage. 5 mobile homes were completely destroyed. 10 people were injured, 3 serious enough for hospitalization. The damage path due to the straight-line winds was estimated around 5 miles long and 1 mile wide, although the tornado path appeared to be a mile long and 100 yards wide.

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Meade

When
May 5, 5:05 PM EST to 5:07 PM EST
Where
Meade County, Ekron to 1 mi SE of Brandenburg
Rating
F1
Path length
1 mi
Path width
100 yd
Injuries
10 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$500,000
Coordinates
37.950, -86.180

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

More

Every storm in Kentucky in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kentucky, 1996Warnings in Kentucky, May 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: 5554088.