Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky

1997 tornadoes in Kentucky

38 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky in 1997, 133 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 3 people and injured 34.

1996 1998 The whole country in 1997

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 1997

January 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 4	10:55 PM CST	F1	Clinton	0.3	100	1	2	$50,000

January 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 24	5:40 PM CST	F2	Barren	5.0	600		2	$1.8 million
January 24	5:50 PM CST	F1	Metcalfe	2.0	500			$20,000

March 1 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 1	4:26 AM CST	F0	Warren	0.5	50
March 1	4:36 AM CST	F2	Monroe	4.0	500	$100,000
March 1	12:59 PM EST	F0	Washington	5.0	50	$10,000
March 1	2:50 PM EST	F1	Powell	6.0	70	$500,000
March 1	3:15 PM EST	F0	Menifee	0.1	20	$3,000
March 1	6:01 PM CST	F0	McLean	0.3	50
March 1	10:00 PM CST	F1	Hart	0.5	50	$90,000
March 1	11:25 PM CST	F0	Metcalfe	0.1	50

March 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 2	1:20 AM EST	F0	Powell	1.0	30			$1.3 million
March 2	1:30 AM EST	F0	Menifee	0.1	20

March 28 14 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 28	6:45 PM EST	F1	Hardin	7.0	100			$2.0 million
March 28	6:04 PM CST	F3	Hart	9.0	1,200	1	14	$1.4 million
March 28	7:15 PM EST	F0	Nelson	0.5	50			$50,000
March 28	7:22 PM EST	F3	Larue	2.0	1,200		1	$3.0 million
March 28	6:25 PM CST	F2	Green	3.0	300			$20,000
March 28	7:31 PM EST	F2	Larue	5.0	300			$100,000
March 28	7:41 PM EST	F2	Marion	3.0	300
March 28	7:15 PM CST	F2	Metcalfe	10.0	200	1	6	$3.0 million
March 28	7:15 PM CST	F3	Adair	15.0	500		7	$1.0 million
March 28	8:40 PM EST	F1	Casey	10.0	50			$200,000
March 28	7:45 PM CST	F2	Adair	1.0	200
March 28	7:50 PM CST	F0	Russell	10.0	50			$1.0 million
March 28	10:30 PM EST	F0	Laurel	0.1	20
March 28	10:28 PM CST	F0	Hart	0.5	50			$10,000

June 13 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 13	6:15 PM EDT	F0	McCreary	0.2	23		$10,000
June 13	6:54 PM EDT	F0	Bell	0.3	23		$3,000
June 13	6:55 PM EDT	F0	Bell	5.0	30		$10,000
June 13	6:13 PM CDT	F2	Muhlenberg	6.0	120	2	$120,000

June 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	7:21 PM CDT	F0	Warren	0.5	50			$10,000
June 16	9:15 PM EDT	F0	Bourbon	0.5	50			$30,000

June 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 17	5:20 PM CDT	F1	Christian	1.3	50			$100,000
June 17	8:25 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.5	50

July 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 23	9:00 PM EDT	F0	Pulaski	0.2	30			$2,000

July 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	9:05 PM EDT	F0	Jefferson	0.5	73

August 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 17	6:55 PM EDT	F0	Bath	0.1	20			$30,000

Crossed into Kentucky

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Kentucky. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 17	7:13 PM CDT	F1	Montgomery, TN to KY	1.7	30		2	$330,000

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.