2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 2:15 PM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 315 PM EDT THU MAY 31 2001 MAIN FORECAST PROBLEMS THIS AFTN INCLUDE POPS THROUGH THE FORECAST AND TEMPS IN THE SHORT TERM. AT 18Z CDFNT WAS EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA (FA). CLOUDS WERE VERY SLOWLY ERODING FROM THE WEST. TEMPERATURES WERE WILL BELOW FORECAST AND IN THE UPPER 50S TO AROUND 60. MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT AGAIN. AVN IS TOO QUICK IN BRINGING IN PRECIP ON SUNDAY. OTHERWISE A BLEND LOOKS OK. CLOUDS WILL SLOWLY CLEAR FROM W TO E THIS EVENING BEFORE RETURNING FROM THE W LATE TONIGHT. TEMPS CURRENTLY RUNNING NEAR FORECAST LOWS ACROSS WRN FA. SUN SHOULD WARM TEMPS A FEW DEGREES LATE THIS AFTN. JET MOVES IN TONIGHT ALONG WITH DECENT S/W. BELIEVE DYNAMICS WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO WARRANT LIKELY POPS IN THE NRN FA...THOUGH IT WILL OCCUR LATE TONIGHT TOWARD SUNRISE. WILL KEEP CHC POPS ELSEWHERE WITH TOWARD SUNRISE WORDING. WILL STILL GO NEAR GUIDANCE LOWS. WILL KEEP LIKELY WORDING ACROSS SRN IN AND SDF AREA FOR SAT MORNING SINCE EVENT WILL OCCUR AROUND 12Z. MODELS SHOW THE SYSTEM WEAKENING AS IT MOVES EAST...SO WILL DROP POPS INTO HIGH CHANCE CAT REMAINDER OF FA. WILL WORD AS SCATTERED. MOST OF THE ORIGINAL AREA OF RAIN WILL EXIT ERN FA IN THE MORNING. HOWEVER SOME INSTABILITY LINGERS ACROSS ERN FA SO A POP-UP T/SHRA STILL POSSIBLE THERE. WILL WORD AS MAINLY MORNING. SAT NITE AND SUNDAY WILL REMAIN DRY. WILL GO WITH INCREASING CLOUDS SOUTH ON SUN. TEMPS WILL BE CLOSER TO FWC THAN MAV. .SDF...NONE. CS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down about 2 miles east of Adairville and moved northeast for about 2 miles. The tornado blew the roofs off some houses, damaged some garages, and snapped some trees about 20 feet off the ground. There was evidence of a tornado path in a wheat field.
A few trees were downed.
Trees and power lines were downed over the southern half of the county, from Munfordville southward. Power was out in Munfordville and Horse Cave.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kentucky, 2001Warnings in Kentucky, May 2001
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: 5244057, 5244058, 5244059.