F3 tornado, Portland to Pellyton, Kentucky, April 16, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mph

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

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

3. 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.

4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

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

5. F4207 to 260 mph

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

6. 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.

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

F3

Date

April 16, 1998

Touchdown

5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)

Path length

20.0 miles (32.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3.0 million

County

Adair County

Touchdown point

37.120, -85.430

Lift-off point

37.230, -85.070

Record number

787

A series of three tornadoes cut a long path of destruction across south central Kentucky during the late afternoon and early evening of April 16. Three people were killed, two in Barren county and one in Metcalfe, as the tornadoes moved through. A 78 year old man was killed by fallen debris from his house in Wisdom accounting for the Metcalfe county death. In Glasgow of Barren county, a 67 year old man was killed in his mobile home and a 47 year old man was killed by flying debris off his greenhouse. The Glasgow area of Barren county and the Pellyton area of Adair county were hardest hit sustaining F3 damage. In Glasgow, 1 house was destroyed and 45 were badly damaged. 35 mobile homes and 25 barns were also badly damaged or destroyed. Winds were estimated at around 175 mph in the Glasgow area. Another wide area area of severe destruction took place across northern Adair county from around Portland to Pellyton. There, 14 houses were destroyed or received major damage. 3 mobile homes and 27 barns were also destroyed. 146 homes and 50 barns were damaged or destroyed across Barren county, while 30 homes, 84 barns, 2 schools and 8 businesses were damaged or destroyed across Adair county. Metcalfe county also sustained minimal damage to 19 structures, major damage to 43 and destruction to 54. F2 damage was estimated across much of Metcalfe county. Many eyewitnesses across the affected counties reported two smaller sub-vortices within the parent funnels. After reviewing Doppler radar reflectivity patterns and damage patterns, it appears the first tornado moved from northern Logan county to the Barren-Metcalfe county line. Then another formed in the near Wisdom in Metcalfe county before it dissipated 2 miles east of Edmonton. A final tornado from the parent supercell formed near Portland in Adair county and moved 20 miles to Pellyton before also dissipating.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:04 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:35 UTC.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:06 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.

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:13 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

41 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.