F0 tornado, Holt, Kentucky, May 8, 2003

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 mph

   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

F0

Date

May 8, 2003

Touchdown

8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Breckinridge County

Touchdown point

37.880, -86.580

Lift-off point

37.880, -86.580

Record number

1375

The tornado occurred in a forested and sparsely populated area near the Ohio River. A few shallow rooted trees were uprooted. Numerous trees were topped and branches were snapped.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:44 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:44 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.

NWS Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 8, 1:55 PM CDT, 6 hours 5 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
255 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2003

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NORTHERN MISSOURI TO WESTERN
KENTUCKY AT 1830Z GENERALLY ALONG A WARM FRONT. THIS FRONTAL
BOUNDARY WILL GRADUALLY LIFT NORTH OVERNIGHT WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF
STORMS ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. WE WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS OVER THE
NORTH WITH CHC POPS OVER THE SOUTH.

WE WILL HOLD ONTO CHC POPS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH CAPES FROM 1500
TO 2500 EVEN WITH NO UPPER SUPPORT. A BRISK SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL WARM
TEMPERATURES INTO THE MID AND UPPER 80S BOTH DAYS.

THE BEST CHANCE FOR STORMS THIS WEEKEND WILL BE SATURDAY NIGHT AS A
STRONG COLD FRONT SWEEPS ACROSS THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY. ONCE THIS
FRONT MOVES THROUGH WE SHOULD SEE AN END TO THUNDERSTORMS FOR
AWHILE.

.EXTENDED NOTES...
POST-FRONTAL THERMAL TROF REMAINS IN PLACE OVER LMK FA THROUGH THE
FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK, WITH NO PCPN FORECAST UNTIL WEDNESDAY NIGHT
INTO THURSDAY ASSOCIATED WITH A WARM FROPA. IN COOL AIR ALOFT, SOME
BKN AFTERNOON CU POSSIBLE MONDAY, OTHERWISE A GENERALLY M/CLEAR SKY
CONDITION SHOULD SUFFICE. TEMPERATURES LOOK TO BE BELOW SEASONAL
NORMALS FOR A GOOD PART OF THE DAY 4-7 PERIOD.

.LMK...NONE.

XXV/XVI

INZ076>079-083-084-089>092-KYZ023>043-045>049-053>057-061>067-
070>078-081-082-091100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
345 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL KENTUCKY AND SOUTH
CENTRAL INDIANA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
SURFACE LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
VALLEY THIS EVENING, WITH A SURFACE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY MOVING
NORTHWARD ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE
LIKELY THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS, WITH LARGE HAIL AND HIGH WINDS BEING THE PRIMARY
THREATS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
THE PRESENCE OF WARM MOIST AIR OVER CENTRAL KENTUCKY AND SOUTH
CENTRAL INDIANA WILL PERSIST INTO THE WEEKEND, WITH THUNDERSTORMS A
DAILY THREAT. ANOTHER STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE
PLAINS SATURDAY, IMPACTING CENTRAL KENTUCKY AND SOUTH CENTRAL
INDIANA SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF
STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY
SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE.

JA

In the hours before

KYZ061-070>072-082136-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
507 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2003

THE TORNADO WATCH WHICH WAS IN EFFECT HAS BEEN CLEARED FOR THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

IN SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY
   BUTLER...WARREN...LOGAN AND SIMPSON

STUREY

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
0838 PM EDT THU MAY 08 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0835 PM    TELL CITY                 IN   1.00 IN HAIL
05/08/03   PERRY

SZAPPANOS

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), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:02 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 2003 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

46 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.