Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2008

EF0 tornado, Peach Grove, Kentucky, June 4, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Pendleton County on June 4, 2008, touching down at 6:20 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $60,000 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
June 4, 2008
Touchdown
6:20 PM EDT (22:20 UTC)
Lifted
6:24 PM EDT (22:24 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$60,000
County
Pendleton County
Touchdown point
38.831, -84.293
Lift-off point
38.833, -84.291
Record number
0806041620-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong thunderstorms tracked through the Ohio Valley and produced very heavy rainfall, along with damaging winds and large hail.

Just north of Peach Grove, a tornado touched down on the west side of State Route 10, ripping the siding off portions of a house and damaging a garage door. On the other side of State Route 10, extensive damage took place to a residence. Two old barns and two garages had severe structural damage on the property. The garage door on the standalone garage was blown inward, with a back door blown out into the yard behind the structure. Tools inside this garage were also blown out of the back of the structure and strewn throughout the yard. Next to the garage, a metal trailer was cleanly picked up. In addition, an interior door frame was blown into the kitchen of the residence, and numerous trees were uprooted and broken throughout the area.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:00 UTC13:18 UTCTornado WatchILN
13:18 UTC20:00 UTCTornado WatchILN
14:07 UTC16:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryILN
16:55 UTC04:00 UTCFlood WatchILN
17:11 UTC19:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryILN
17:56 UTC21:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningILN
22:14 UTC01:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningILN
22:27 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILN
22:43 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningILN

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 20:01 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

10.3 hours before the tornado, 79 km from the path. June 4, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2008-06-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 565 joules per kilogram, CIN -66, lifted condensation level 651 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 12:00Z on 2008-06-04The 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 288 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
565 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-66 J/kg
Surface CAPE
232 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
288 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
379 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
7.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.7 hours after it, 79 km from the path. June 5, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2008-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 37 joules per kilogram, CIN -349, lifted condensation level 1188 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 2008-06-05The 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 326 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 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
37 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-349 J/kg
Surface CAPE
49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1188 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
326 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
412 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Cincinnat/Lunken (LUK), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:53 UTC8272180° 5 kt1006.4
21:53 UTC8073180° 5 kt1007.5TS
22:35 UTC73.466.2250° 23 kt391010.2TSRA
22:53 UTC6965240° 7 kt201010.2TSRA BR
23:53 UTC6965200° 12 kt1008.1-TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:21 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
22:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 651 Nw RichwoodBoone, KYREPORTED ON I-75 SOUTH BETWEEN MT ZION AND RICHWOOD.
22:20 UTCTORNADOPeach GrovePendleton, KYDAMAGE WAS SURVEYED TO NUMEROUS HOMES AND BARNS IN THE PEACH GROVE AREA. ONE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT GARAGE DAMAGE. THE DAMAGE PATH ACROSS ROUTE 10 WAS ESTIMATED TO BE A HALF MILE LONG. ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS WERE BETW
22:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Se AlexandriaCampbell, KYROAD WASHED OUT NEAR HIGHWAY 10. ALSO...HIGH WATER REPORTED ON MANY ROADWAYS ACROSS THE COUNTY.
22:30 UTCFLASH FLOODCovingtonKenton, KYWATER REPORTED FLOWING OVER BRIDGES. HIGH WATER REPORTED ON MANY ROADWAYS ACROSS THE COUNTY.
23:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 60ErlangerKenton, KY
00:16 UTCFLASH FLOODFlorenceBoone, KYBRIDGE ON GUNPOWDER ROAD REPORTED FLOODED NEAR FLORENCE. ALSO...HIGH WATER REPORTED ON MANY ROADS ACROSS THE COUNTY.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 4, 2008

45 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 43:30 AM CDTEF0Randolph, IL0.650
June 43:48 AM CDTEF0Randolph, IL1.550
June 43:49 AM CDTEF0Randolph, IL0.725
June 47:13 AM EDTEF0Greene, IN0.150
June 47:50 AM EDTEF0Hamilton, OH1.950$40,000
June 41:25 PM EDTEF1Clarke, VA0.5100$20,000
June 42:19 PM EDTEF0Fauquier, VA4.0150$15,000
June 42:35 PM EDTEF0Loudoun, VA5.4150$15,000
June 43:18 PM EDTEF0Frederick, VA0.5100$8,000
June 43:20 PM EDTEF0Montgomery, MD0.350$2,000
June 43:40 PM EDTEF0Calvert, MD1.675$400,000
June 44:12 PM EDTEF0Caroline, MD2.250$300,000
June 42:29 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
June 43:01 PM MDTEF0Yuma, CO0.725
June 43:04 PM MDTEF0Adams, CO0.150
June 44:53 PM CDTEF0Howard, NE3.625$50,000
June 46:00 PM EDTEF0Dearborn, IN0.750$30,000
June 44:49 PM MDTEF1Chase, NE0.930$95,000
June 46:04 PM CDTEF1Mills, IA4.8220
June 45:08 PM MDTEF1Chase, NE0.120$30,000
June 45:13 PM MDTEF0Chase, NE0.120$25,000
June 47:15 PM EDTEF0Culpeper, VA4.0100$15,000
June 47:27 PM EDTEF1Stafford, VA9.6100$50,000
June 47:35 PM EDTEF1Stafford, VA1.0100$20,000
June 46:50 PM CDTEF1Mills, IA5.1440
June 45:53 PM MDTEF0Chase, NE0.120
June 47:04 PM CDTEF0Union, IA0.950
June 47:10 PM CDTEF0Hayes, NE0.120
June 47:25 PM CDTEF1Seward, NE5.6440
June 46:26 PM MDTEF0Yuma, CO0.525
June 47:44 PM CDTEF1Butler, NE3.8440
June 47:45 PM CDTEF1Livingston, IL3.4200$40,000
June 48:00 PM CDTEF1Butler, NE5.5220
June 48:13 PM CDTEF0Adams, IA2.375
June 48:18 PM CDTEF0Tazewell, IL1.530
June 48:24 PM CDTEF0Tazewell, IL6.1150
June 48:24 PM CDTEF1Adams, IA9.5150$15,000
June 48:37 PM CDTEF1Saunders, NE6.5880
June 48:55 PM CDTEF1Saunders, NE4.9440
June 48:58 PM CDTEF1Adams, IA5.6150$25,000
June 49:18 PM CDTEF0Union, IA1.175$5,000
June 49:37 PM CDTEF1Union, IA3.9150$50,000
June 49:58 PM CDTEF1Union, IA10.9100$5,000
June 411:23 PM CDTEF0Phelps, NE0.125
June 411:28 PM CDTEF0Gosper, NE0.125

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.