Tornado, Bell
- When
- May 31, 9:48 PM EST to 9:51 PM EST
- Where
- Bell County, Fonde to 1 mi SE of Fonde
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1.5 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Property damage
- $200,000
- Coordinates
- 36.620, -83.880
Tornado in Kentucky, May 31, 1998
The tornado damaged 12 of the 16 homes in Fonde, damaged 2 churches, and downed numerous trees. Two mobile homes were destroyed, and the steeple of the Fonde Baptist Church toppled off and punctured the roof before falling to the ground.
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
- 0
- Property damage
- $200,000
- 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 JKL wrote it up.
The tornado damaged 12 of the 16 homes in Fonde, damaged 2 churches, and downed numerous trees. Two mobile homes were destroyed, and the steeple of the Fonde Baptist Church toppled off and punctured the roof before falling to the ground.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 31, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in New York, May 31, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in New York, May 31, 1998
- Tornado in Pennsylvania, May 31, 1998
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in Wisconsin, May 31, 1998
- Tornado and Hail in Michigan, May 31, 1998
- Tornado and Hail in Pennsylvania, May 31, 1998
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in Massachusetts, May 31, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in Pennsylvania, May 31, 1998
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, May 31, 1998
- Tornado and Hail in Vermont, May 31, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, May 31, 1998
More
Every storm in Kentucky in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kentucky, 1998Warnings in Kentucky, May 1998
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: 5644949.