EF1 tornado, Georgetown to Shively, Indiana, May 7, 2023

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 7, 2023

Touchdown

7:57 AM CDT (12:57 UTC)

Lifted

8:03 AM CDT (13:03 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Floyd and Jefferson counties

Touchdown point

38.217, -85.870

Lift-off point

38.174, -85.809

Record number

2305070657-01

33 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LMK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• Several trees broken in similar direction

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

During the early morning hours of May 7th, a cluster of strong and occasionally severe thunderstorms over central Illinois gradually grew upscale into a bowing line of storms as it moved southeast into central and southern Indiana toward dawn. Ahead of the developing quasi-linear convective system, a moderately unstable environment was present across southern Indiana, with MLCAPE ranging from around 500 J/kg in the east to around 1500 J/kg in the west. The line of thunderstorms generally produced sub-severe wind gusts across southern Indiana, as the strongest winds remained aloft thanks to a residual nocturnal stable layer. However, as storms approached the Ohio River, a few discrete cells moving from west to east were overtaken by the line which was moving from north-northwest to south-southeast. In the fifteen minutes or so after these cell mergers took place, five brief spin-up tornadoes occurred in Floyd County, producing pockets of structural and tree damage across the county. All of the tornadoes produced either EF0 or EF1 damage, with estimated wind speeds generally between 75 and 105 mph. Minor straight-line wind damage was also observed as this line of storms moved through. The severe threat ended by 10 a.m. as storms pushed southward into central Kentucky.

During the late morning and afternoon hours on May 7th, an occasionally broken line of strong-to-severe thunderstorms moved from north to south across central Kentucky. These storms were not associated with any low-level front; however, they were the continuation of convection which fired during the late evening hours on May 6th over northern Illinois and had moved south-southeastward along with a mid-level shortwave disturbance transiting along the top edge of larger scale ridging. Ahead of the line of storms, a moderately unstable environment existed. Initially, around 500 J/kg MLCAPE was present as storms approached the Interstate 64 corridor; this increased to between 1000-2000 J/kg later in the day across south central Kentucky as the atmosphere had more time to destabilize. Wind shear was modest at best, but was sufficient to keep storms going across the region. Most portions of the line of storms were sub-severe, but a few isolated areas of severe winds, hail, and one tornado occurred as the line moved through central Kentucky.

At 3424 Hamby Road, several trees were snapped and uprooted. Trees were facing from the east northeast to a southeasterly direction. Branches from the trees were scattered from the northeast to the southeast direction. An outbuilding had some siding and gutter damage. Of particular note was a large, healthy red oak tree that was uprooted with a significant root ball, which hit the far corner of the neighbor's house, doing structural damage to the roof and gutters. | The vast majority of the damage was to the trees, and just off the ground. The tornado topped a few trees at the edge of their property by the forested area, before lifting. Wind speeds of 90 mph were estimated, with a width of 100 yards, across this very short tornado track.

The tornado first touched down on the northwest portion of the Brookside subdivision (near the eastern portion of Georgetown Lake), with a couple larger branches of two older compromised trees twisted off. The Brookside subdivision is located just south of Indiana Route 64 and just east of Baylor Wissman Rd. There were over a dozen homes sustaining shingle, soffit, gutter, and fascia damage with many tarps on roofs. Shingles were thrown from an east northeasterly direction to a east southeasterly direction. There was little if any tree damage inside the subdivision, with one playground lifted and thrown into a fence. Drone photography showed the vast majority of the damage was to shingles and to soffits. The damage was estimated to be EF0 with 80 mph winds. The last damage point was in a wooded area just east of Zachary Trail before interstate 64. One tree was topped in that grove of trees.

The tornado first touched down on the Indiana University Southeast campus, on the west side of the Natural Science and Nursing building. There was roof and siding damage to the building. Trees between the parking lot and Grenadier Drive were |facing east, north, and to the northwest. | Power poles were snapped along Highway 111 (Grant Line Road). Apartments along Countryside Drive had shingle, gutter and downspout damage. However, one of the apartments had a large section of its roof removed with debris being thrown in all |directions. Two people in the apartment building were injured with head lacerations. Shingles were thrown several hundred yards. Trees were uprooted, snapped and twisted along Countryside Drive and Melvyn Drive. Trees were facing from the northwest to the southeasterly direction. Wind speeds in this area were 100 mph |with a width of 125 yards. One house on Melvyn Drive had no damage except for a piece of gutter that was thrown as a missile in a northerly direction through a window into their living room. Thankfully no one was injured at this location. | One outbuilding was thrown to the south, while another outbuilding was thrown to the north, three houses apart. Powerlines were snapped, and one large piece of roofing material from the apartment was impaled into the ground. There was numerous wooden and metal fence damage between Melvyn Drive and Preswick Square. A |very big, healthy oak tree was uprooted and was facing an east northeasterly direction. Wind damage in this area was consistent with an EF1 tornado, winds of 105 miles per hour, and a width of 100 yards. | The last damage was just on the other side of Klerner Lane, which was some low-end EF1 90 mph topped tree damage. In addition to a ground survey, drone photography was used, and there were several videos of a funnel on social media.

The first damage point towards the western end of McCarthy Knob Road was some straight-line wind damage of some cedars and maple trees of 75 mph. Shortly east of there was more widespread tree damage on the west side of the road and up the hill. There were softwood and hardwood trees twisted, snapped, topped, and uprooted for almost a half a mile which ended near the intersection of Budd Road. | A tree fell on the back side of the house, causing some gutter and fascia damage. There were several power lines down and two power poles pushed over. The maximum tornado winds were 90 mph.

The first area of damage was at The Sporting Club at the Farm on Indiana State Road 111. Two large barns had significant roof damage and there was shingle and soffit damage to a large, well-built house. Of significance, a 110-pound storm cellar door was sucked out and thrown almost 100 yards to the east. There were 3 trees uprooted |and facing from north to an easterly direction. | The 600-pound sign for the sporting club was lifted up and moved to the north several feet. The tornado crossed Highway 111 and snapped and twisted over a dozen trees along the west side of the Ohio River. Because of the 110-pound bolted tornado shelter door being sucked out, the tornado rating increased from 95 to 100 mph. The |width was 100 yards wide. | The tornado continued near Five Mile Lane and River Road in Floyd County along the Ohio River where shingles were lost on a residence and a barn garage received significant roof damage where the metal panels were peeled off. The tornado then crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky in the Lake Dreamland area of West Louisville in western Jefferson County.

The tornado touched down at the Sporting Club at the Farm in Floyd County, Indiana before it traveled a short distance and cross the river into Kentucky. The tornado entered Kentucky in the Lake Dreamland area of West Louisville in western Jefferson County. Significant tree damage was observed along River Front Drive and continued along Kale Dreamland Road where several hardwood trees were snapped or uprooted, along with many large branches down. | The tornado continued along Kramers Lane toward Van Winkle Drive, where damage appeared to be sparser with large branches down in some isolated areas. Very isolated areas of large branches down continued through the Heatherfield and St. Dennis neighborhoods (and across I-264 Watterson Expressway) and toward the Louisville |Memorial Gardens. Along Lynn Lea Road, the tornado regained strength and continued through homes along Kendall Lane west of 31W Dixie Highway. Trees were snapped heading on the east side of Hunters Trace neighborhood. Significant tree damage was observed along Malcolm Road just north of Gagel Avenue. Several hardwood trees were uprooted or snapped with damage consistent with 94 mph winds in this location. No visible damage was observed to the southeast beyond Gagel Avenue where the tornado ended.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:53 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Louisville Intl (SDF), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.