Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2009

EF0 tornado, Almo to Shiloh, Kentucky, April 30, 2009

From Almo to Shiloh, this EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Calloway County on April 30, 2009, touching down at 7:44 PM CDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3,000 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
April 30, 2009
Touchdown
7:44 PM CDT (00:44 UTC)
Lifted
7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.2 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$3,000
County
Calloway County
Touchdown point
36.679, -88.245
Lift-off point
36.688, -88.236
Record number
0904301844-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms increased along an axis from central Arkansas into southeast Missouri and southern Illinois, then moved east across western Kentucky. These storms moved through a region of marginal instability, but deep-layer vertical wind shear was sufficient for isolated severe storms. The complex of storms contained very heavy rainfall that resulted in localized flash flooding.

An EF0 tornado touched down along Highway 464 near Almo and travelled to the northeast before lifting. Several trees and limbs were downed. One large oak tree was uprooted. Minor damage was done to siding on a home. There was one eyewitness to the tornado. Peak winds were estimated near 80 mph.

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 22:12 UTC and running to 01:47 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:12 UTC01:47 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchPAH
02:02 UTC03:52 UTCFlood AdvisoryPAH

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

0.7 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. May 1, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2009-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -28, lifted condensation level 1584 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2009-05-01The 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 150 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1584 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
150 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

11.3 hours after it, 159 km from the path. May 1, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2009-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 470 joules per kilogram, CIN -13, lifted condensation level 460 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2009-05-01The 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 110 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
470 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
460 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Murray (CEY), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:53 UTC7064190° 7 kt151014.6-RA
22:57 UTC69.864.4180° 8 kt161014.6+RA
23:05 UTC69.864.4 6 kt151014.2-RA
23:53 UTC6762260° 12 kt211014.6TSRA
23:59 UTC64.462.6250° 11 kt211014.6TSRA BR
00:03 UTC64.462.6240° 11 kt1014.9TSRA BR
00:08 UTC64.462.6230° 13 kt1014.9TSRA BR
00:25 UTC64.462.6300° 5 kt161014.6TSRA BR
00:34 UTC64.462.60° 0 kt1014.2TSRA BR
00:53 UTC65630° 0 kt1013.9TSRA BR
01:27 UTC64.462.6220° 8 kt1014.9TSRA
01:36 UTC64.462.6250° 6 kt1014.9TSRA BR
01:53 UTC6362230° 4 kt1014.9TSRA BR
01:59 UTC62.662.6230° 6 kt1014.9-RA BR
02:06 UTC64.462.6230° 6 kt1015.2-RA

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

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:45 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
00:11 UTCTORNADO2 S Bell CityGraves, KYBRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ABOUT 2.5 MILES SOUTH OF BELL CITY...NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HWY 97 AND HWY 1270. THE ACTUAL TOUCHDOWN OCCURRED 0.2 MILES EAST OF HWY 97 ON HWY 1270. MINOR TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED FROM THE TOUCH
00:44 UTCTORNADO2 Se AlmoCalloway, KYAN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY 464 NEAR ALMO AND TRAVELLED 3/4 MILE TO THE NORTHEAST BEFORE LIFTING. AVERAGE PATH WIDTH WAS 40 YARDS. PEAK WIND WAS 80 MPH. SEVERAL TREES OR TREE LIMBS WERE DOWNED. ONE LARGE O
01:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 E AlmoCalloway, KYLATE REPORT. 2 TREES UPROOTED ON DUNKIN TRAIL ROAD. ONE TREE WAS ABOUT 15 INCHES IN DIAMETER. THE OTHER TREE WAS ABOUT 30 FT AWAY FROM THE FIRST ONE AND WAS 8 INCHES IN DIAMETER. A MOBILE HOME LOST ITS UNDERPINNING ACROS

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 30, 2009

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 304:13 PM CDTEF0Jackson, AR0.624$1,000
April 307:11 PM CDTEF0Graves, KY0.140$1,000

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.