Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky

1996 tornadoes in Kentucky

25 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky in 1996, 53 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1995 1997 The whole country in 1996

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 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.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 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.
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.

Every tornado in Kentucky in 1996

January 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 18	10:12 AM CST	F1	McCracken	1.0	50		2	$70,000

April 20 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 20	2:40 AM EDT	F1	Bullitt	1.0	200		$300,000
April 20	3:30 AM CDT	F1	Barren	0.5	100	4	$10,000
April 20	3:34 AM CDT	F1	Barren	4.0	200		$80,000
April 20	3:45 AM CDT	F0	Green	3.0	100		$20,000
April 20	5:26 AM EDT	F2	Lincoln	12.0	300	7	$1.5 million
April 20	5:28 AM EDT	F1	Rockcastle	2.0	100		$40,000
April 20	5:30 AM EDT	F1	Garrard	6.0	200		$10,000
April 20	5:45 AM EDT	F2	Madison	2.0	200	10	$13 million
April 20	5:55 AM EDT	F1	Estill	5.0	100		$200,000

May 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5	2:35 PM EDT	F0	Washington	0.5	50
May 5	6:05 PM EDT	F1	Meade	1.0	100		10	$500,000

May 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 8	6:00 PM EDT	F1	Gallatin	2.0	100		7	$10,000
May 8	7:15 PM EDT	F2	Pendleton	2.0	200		2	$70,000

May 28 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 28	6:40 PM EDT	F4	Jefferson	30.0	850	10	$101 million
May 28	7:53 PM EDT	F0	Anderson	0.5	575
May 28	8:10 PM EDT	F2	Anderson	10.0	575	1	$1.0 million
May 28	7:15 PM CDT	F0	Barren	0.5	50
May 28	8:42 PM EDT	F0	Jessamine	10.0	575
May 28	9:20 PM EDT	F0	Harrison	0.5	50		$10,000
May 28	10:35 PM EDT	F0	Lincoln	12.0	50

June 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 3	9:10 PM CDT	F0	Clinton	0.5	50

November 7 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
November 7	12:35 PM CST	F0	Logan	10.0	30		$500,000
November 7	12:55 PM CST	F0	Simpson	0.5	30
November 7	1:45 PM CST	F0	Hart	9.0	30	5	$100,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Kentucky since 1950 Warnings in force in Kentucky The live radar over Kentucky

What this means

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.

Sources

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