F1 tornado, Spottsville, Kentucky, May 27, 2004

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 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

May 27, 2004

Touchdown

10:32 PM CDT (03:32 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$40,000

County

Henderson County

Touchdown point

37.830, -87.430

Lift-off point

37.850, -87.430

Record number

157

Severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds moved east from southern Illinois, passing across Union, Henderson, and Daviess Counties. A series of intense downbursts with peak winds up to 120 MPH struck northern Daviess County. The severe damage was concentrated in a 5-mile wide path from Stanley through Owensboro to Yelvington. Approximately 40 to 50 houses received major damage, mostly due to trees falling on them. Another 40 to 50 homes received minor damage. Several barns and garages were destroyed. A house roof was blown off. Hundreds of downed trees, power lines, and power poles blocked numerous roads. A woman was trapped in her vehicle when a tree fell on it. An irrigation rig was overturned in the Stanley area, and at least one trailer was blown off its foundation. Debris and even a whole building blocked roads in the Stanley area of Daviess County. Damage in Union and Henderson Counties consisted of widespread tree damage. Trees were down across many primary roads, including the Pennyrile Parkway and U.S. Highways 41 and 60. A National Weather Service damage survey estimated peak winds near Geneva in Henderson County were near 75 MPH. At Geneva, numerous trees were down, a sun room was blown off a house, and there was minor structural damage such as broken windows and shingles off roofs. One large tree limb fell through the wall of a house. A survey of the damage in eastern Henderson County revealed a very short-track tornado near Spottsville. In Union County, many trees were down in Uniontown and Morganfield, and some power poles were snapped off. Some roof damage occurred at a shopping center on Highway 60 West near Morganfield, as well as two job corps center buildings in the same area. In the same location about a mile west of Morganfield, 50 to 75 trees were down. A garage was damaged in Uniontown. A National Weather Service damage survey indicated peak winds were near 75 MPH at Uniontown. The vast majority of significant damage was in the northern half of Union, Henderson, and Daviess Counties. Several trees were blown down in extreme northern Mclean County at Beech Grove.

A double wide mobile home was shoved 10 feet off its base. A 12-by-16 foot wooden shed was destroyed, killing 26 baby chicks. Several trees on the property were blown down. Peak winds were estimated around 110 MPH.

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

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 2004 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

27 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.