Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2007
EF0 tornado, Tway to Cawood, Kentucky, April 3, 2007
From Tway to Cawood, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Harlan County on April 3, 2007, touching down at 10:17 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- April 3, 2007
- Touchdown
- 10:17 PM EDT (02:17 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:21 PM EDT (02:21 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- Harlan County
- Touchdown point
- 36.812, -83.319
- Lift-off point
- 36.811, -83.313
- Record number
- 0704032017-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A cold front moved east from the Upper Midwest and the Central Plains on the afternoon of April 3rd. Very warm, moist, unstable air was in place over much of the region. A line of severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of the front, and plowed through many areas of Eastern Kentucky. This line of thunderstorms is also known as a squall line. Many reports of wind damage were received throughout Eastern Kentucky. Five tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in Eastern Kentucky. Two tornadoes were confirmed in Pulaski County, and also in Harlan County, with one tornado confirmed in Laurel County. For Harlan County, these were the first tornadoes ever recorded in the County. These tornadoes were embedded in areas of significant straight line wind damage. Several reports of large hail were also received.
An EF0 tornado with estimated winds around 80 mph, a path length of 0.3 miles and a width of 25 yards, damaged a maintenance building and heavily damaged a trailer roof.
An EF0 tornado with estimated winds at 75 mph, a path length of 1 mile and a path width of 50 yards snapped numerous large trees, destroyed an old barn, and damaged a few outbuildings and roofs.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:05 UTC and running to 03:20 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:05 UTC | 03:20 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | JKL |
| 02:07 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JKL |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:34 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 radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:17 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:44 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Garrard | Clay, KY | POWER LINES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 421 SOUTH. |
| 01:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Barbourville | Knox, KY | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN COUNTYWIDE. ROAD SIGNS BLOWN DOWN. ROOF BLOWN OFF A TRAILER. 8 CHILDREN IN A SHELTER DUE TO THEIR HOME BEING UNIHABITLABLE. UNCONFIRMED REPORT OF 2 PEOPLE TRAPPED IN THEIR BASEMENT DUE TO WIND DAMAGE. |
| 01:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Garrard | Clay, KY | ROOF BLOWN OFF A HANGER AT A SMALL AIRPORT. |
| 01:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Manchester | Clay, KY | TREE DOWN ON HIGHWAY 80. OTHER TREES WERE ALSO DOWN ON POWER LINES...WITH NO OTHER DETAILS. |
| 02:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Middlesboro | Bell, KY | NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE TO A FEW HOMES IN THE DORTON BRANCH AREA. |
| 02:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 S Pineville | Bell, KY | A LARGE 15-16 INCH POPLAR TREE WAS BLOWN DOWN ACROSS HWY 190. APPROXIMATELY 70-75 PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER. |
| 02:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 S Harlan | Harlan, KY | SUNSHINE FIRE DEPT REPORTED MULTIPLE TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN AROUND HWY 72 AND THE 421 BYPASS. 3 INCHES OF FLOWING WATER ON HWY 421 AT BAXTER. |
| 02:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Grays Knob | Harlan, KY | NUMEROUS LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN ON HWY 421 FROM GRAYS KNOB TO CAWOOD. SHINGLES AND TIN TORN FROM ROOFTOPS AND SMALL OUTBUILDINGS BLOWN OVER. |
| 02:15 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Thousandsticks | Leslie, KY | FUNNEL CLOUD SPOTTED IN THOUSANDSTICKS. |
| 02:15 UTC | HAIL 1 | Thousandsticks | Leslie, KY | QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED. |
| 02:19 UTC | TORNADO | 2 S Harlan | Harlan, KY | AN EF0 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED WINDS AROUND 80 MPH...A PATH LENGTH OF 0.3 MILES AND A WIDTH OF 25 YARDS DAMAGED A MAINTENANCE BUILDING AND HEAVILY DAMAMGED A TRAILER ROOF. |
| 02:27 UTC | TORNADO | N Popeville | Harlan, KY | AN EF0 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED WINDS AT 75 MPH...A PATH LENGTH OF 1 MILE AND A PATH WIDTH OF 50 YARDS SNAPPED NUMEROUS LARGE TREES...DESTROYED AN OLD BARN...AND DAMAGED A FEW OUTBUILDINGS AND ROOFS. |
| 05:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jeff | Perry, KY | PUBLIC REPORT OF NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN JEFF KY ABOUT 6 MILES S HAZARD. ALSO A ROOF BLOWN OFF A HOME IN VICCO. JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 3, 2007
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 3 | 6:54 PM CDT | EF1 | Craighead, AR | 0.1 | 50 | $250,000 | ||
| April 3 | 6:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Craighead, AR | 0.0 | 25 | $3,000 | ||
| April 3 | 8:01 PM EDT | EF0 | Taylor, KY | 1.2 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| April 3 | 8:23 PM EDT | EF1 | Casey, KY | 13.8 | 200 | $85,000 | ||
| April 3 | 8:40 PM EDT | EF1 | Pulaski, KY | 0.1 | 25 | $15,000 | ||
| April 3 | 8:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Tarrant, TX | 1.0 | 20 | $100,000 | ||
| April 3 | 9:28 PM EDT | EF1 | Laurel, KY | 1.8 | 50 | $150,000 | ||
| April 3 | 10:15 PM EDT | EF1 | Claiborne, TN | 12.0 | 150 | 7 | $1.2 million | |
| April 3 | 9:16 PM CDT | EF1 | Cumberland, TN | 4.8 | 100 | $145,000 | ||
| April 3 | 10:25 PM EDT | EF0 | Harlan, KY | 1.2 | 50 | $700,000 | ||
| April 3 | 10:24 PM CDT | EF0 | Lincoln, TN to AL | 9.3 | 75 | |||
| April 3 | 11:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Jackson, AL | 2.6 | 100 |
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.