EF1 tornado, Sand Hill to Beckton, Kentucky, June 11, 2009

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

June 11, 2009

Touchdown

7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)

Lifted

7:27 PM CDT (00:27 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

17.2 miles (27.7 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Warren and Barren counties

Touchdown point

37.111, -86.324

Lift-off point

36.994, -86.030

Record number

0906111800-01

A surface low pressure system and cold front coupled with moderate instability across the region produced a cluster of severe thunderstorms which moved northeastward from middle Tennessee into southern Kentucky. In addition to two tornadoes, these storms produced damaging winds and isolated hail.

The tornado tracked intermittently along a path 18 miles long, with a maximum width of 150 yards. There were several areas along and near the path with evidence of straight line wind damage.||The tornado fist touched down just inside the Warren County line, near the Edmonson County border, about 6.5 miles southwest of Brownsville around 6 pm CST. The tornado traveled roughly along the Warren and Edmonson County lines, doing damage in Warren County. After one mile, the tornado lifted and descended back to the ground about three and a quarter miles later. While it was aloft, significant straight-line wind damage occurred along a 2-mile wide path along both sides of the county line. After descending to the ground again 3.5 miles northwest of Smiths Grove, the tornado remained on the ground for more than 7 miles, doing its last structural damage in the county less than a half mile southwest of Hays around 618 pm CST. ||In Barren County, the tornado passed over mostly rural cropland exhibiting little damage, but destroyed two large barns and damaged a home about 6 miles west of Glasgow in Barren County around 627 pm CST before finally lifting shortly thereafter. . ||This EF-1 tornado produced wind speeds up to 105 mph along its intermittent 18 mile path length. Damage was done to hardwood trees, barns, homes and outbuildings. A well-defined rotation pattern could also be seen in tall grass.

The tornado tracked intermittently along a path 18 miles long, with a maximum width of 150 yards. There were several areas along and near the path with evidence of straight line wind damage.||The tornado fist touched down just inside the Warren County line, near the Edmonson County border, about 6.5 miles southwest of Brownsville around 6 pm CST. The tornado traveled roughly along the Warren and Edmonson County lines, doing damage in Warren County. After one mile, the tornado lifted and descended back to the ground about three and a quarter miles later. While it was aloft, significant straight-line wind damage occurred along a 2-mile wide path along both sides of the county line. After descending to the ground again 3.5 miles northwest of Smiths Grove, the tornado remained on the ground for more than 7 miles, doing its last structural damage in the county less than a half mile southwest of Hays around 618 pm CST. ||In Barren County, the tornado passed over mostly rural cropland exhibiting little damage, but destroyed two large barns and damaged a home about 6 miles west of Glasgow in Barren County around 627 pm CST before finally lifting shortly thereafter. . ||This EF-1 tornado produced wind speeds up to 105 mph along its intermittent 18 mile path length. Damage was done to hardwood trees, barns, homes and outbuildings. A well-defined rotation pattern could also be seen in tall grass.

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

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:47 UTC and running to 01:52 UTC.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:02 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.

Glasgow Municipal (GLW), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:01 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.

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 2009 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.