Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2007

EF0 tornado, Kendall Spgs, Kentucky, November 5, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Bath County on November 5, 2007, touching down at 5:12 PM EST and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
November 5, 2007
Touchdown
5:12 PM EST (22:12 UTC)
Lifted
5:14 PM EST (22:14 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Bath County
Touchdown point
38.115, -83.827
Lift-off point
38.115, -83.799
Record number
0711051612-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front moving east across the area spawned the development of severe thunderstorms across Eastern Kentucky, north of the Mountain Parkway, during the late afternoon hours of November 5th, 2007. In addition to wind damage and large hail across portions of the area, evidence of a tornado touchdown was found in Bath County. A National Weather Service storm survey team found evidence of a tornado 4 miles west-southwest of Owingsville. The tornado was on the ground for 1.52 miles, and had a width of 30 yards. 4 barns were damaged, and numerous trees were blown down.

Four older barns had significant roof and wall damage. One barn was pushed off it's foundation. Numerous trees were downed and snapped along the path. The tornado crossed I-64 3 miles southwest of Owingsville before lifting. Tornado rated EF-0 with peak winds near 85 mph.

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

The warnings

3 minutes of warning. NWS JKL issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:09 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:52 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJKL
22:09 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningJKL

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 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 air that afternoon

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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 146 km from the path. November 5, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-11-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -97105, lifted condensation level 2539 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-11-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 196 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-97105 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2539 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
348 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 146 km from the path. November 6, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2007-11-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 157 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 763 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2007-11-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -42 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 84 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
157 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
763 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
84 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:11 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:05 UTCHAIL 0.755 Nnw CowanFleming, KYPENNY SIZE HAIL REPORTED
21:23 UTCTSTM WND DMGMount CarmelFleming, KY*** 2 INJ *** 2 PEOPLE WERE INJURED WHEN THEY WERE BLOWN OFF SCAFFOLDING DURING A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. EXTENT OF INJURIES UNKNOWN.
21:50 UTCHAIL 0.88ParisBourbon, KYDELAYED REPORT OF HAIL.
22:05 UTCHAIL 0.75JudyMontgomery, KY
22:11 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw OwingsvilleBath, KYONE TREE DOWN ON STEPSTONE RD.
22:12 UTCTORNADO4 Wsw OwingsvilleBath, KYSTORM DAMAGE SURVEY REVEALED TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON DAY ROAD. 4 BARNS SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE AND ONE WAS BLOWN OFF ITS FOUNDATION. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED ALONG THE 1.5 MILE PATH. THE TORNADO
22:14 UTCHAIL 0.882 N OwingsvilleBath, KYNICKEL SIZE HAIL REPORTED
22:16 UTCTSTM WND DMGOwingsvilleBath, KYSEVERAL TREES DOWN AROUND OWINGSVILLE
22:31 UTCTSTM WND DMGMoreheadRowan, KYFEW TREES DOWN IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE COUNTY
22:53 UTCTSTM WND DMGLeisureMorgan, KYFEW LARGE LIMBS DOWN

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

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.