Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky

2011 tornadoes in Kentucky

60 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky in 2011, 268 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2010 2012 The whole country in 2011

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Kentucky in 2011

February 24 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
February 24	6:15 PM CST	EF0	Fulton	1.1	50	$30,000
February 24	6:32 PM CST	EF1	Hickman	7.2	100	$80,000
February 24	7:50 PM CST	EF2	Christian	5.7	300	$600,000

February 28 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
February 28	4:43 AM EST	EF1	Oldham	1.2	75
February 28	4:59 AM EST	EF3	Henry	2.3	150	1	$500,000
February 28	6:49 AM EST	EF1	Lincoln	8.7	250		$100,000
February 28	7:37 AM EST	EF1	Wolfe	0.3	100		$75,000

April 4 13 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 4	10:18 AM CDT	EF1	Ballard	3.7	200		$40,000
April 4	10:20 AM CDT	EF2	Ballard	6.4	300	1	$700,000
April 4	10:30 AM CDT	EF0	McCracken	0.5	50		$30,000
April 4	11:55 AM CDT	EF1	Muhlenberg	7.1	150		$100,000
April 4	12:04 PM CDT	EF2	Christian	5.3	200	7	$2.0 million
April 4	12:26 PM CDT	EF1	Butler	3.4	50
April 4	12:38 PM CDT	EF1	Grayson	3.4	125
April 4	12:41 PM CDT	EF1	Grayson	1.0	200
April 4	2:55 PM CDT	EF1	Monroe	0.2	75
April 4	3:14 PM CDT	EF1	Clinton	0.3	150
April 4	3:16 PM CDT	EF0	Clinton	0.2	60
April 4	5:03 PM EDT	EF1	Whitley	1.7	880		$200,000
April 4	6:21 PM EDT	EF1	Floyd	0.4	100		$10,000

April 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 9	2:00 PM EDT	EF0	Menifee	0.3	250			$10,000
April 9	2:05 PM EDT	EF0	Wolfe	0.3	100			$30,000

April 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 15	8:12 PM CDT	EF0	Trigg	0.3	50			$8,000
April 15	8:14 PM CDT	EF1	Trigg	2.5	125			$30,000

April 19 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 19	10:54 PM CDT	EF0	Breckinridge	11.5	150
April 19	12:49 AM EDT	EF1	Oldham	0.3	80
April 19	1:28 AM EDT	EF0	Franklin	4.8	30
April 19	1:54 AM EDT	EF1	Scott	0.5	50	$35,000

April 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 20	1:30 AM CDT	EF1	Simpson	3.7	100

April 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	10:50 PM CDT	EF2	Union	15.5	300		2	$880,000
April 22	11:27 PM CDT	EF0	Daviess	0.2	40			$3,000

April 23 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 23	6:09 AM EDT	EF0	Harrison	0.5	75
April 23	2:59 PM EDT	EF0	Grant	1.1	25		$25,000
April 23	3:10 PM EDT	EF1	Grant	4.3	50		$35,000
April 23	3:14 PM EDT	EF1	Kenton	0.2	50		$15,000
April 23	2:29 PM CDT	EF1	Ballard	1.6	80		$100,000
April 23	2:30 PM CDT	EF2	Carlisle	4.0	450	2	$2.0 million

April 25 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 25	4:23 PM CDT	EF1	Christian	1.5	275	$100,000
April 25	12:30 AM CDT	EF0	Calloway	0.8	175	$80,000
April 25	12:37 AM CDT	EF1	Lyon	3.2	50	$150,000
April 25	12:40 AM CDT	EF1	Lyon	15.4	100	$200,000

April 26 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 26	1:05 AM CDT	EF3	Christian	2.6	300	$1.0 million
April 26	7:18 PM CDT	EF2	Grayson	3.0	440
April 26	7:19 PM CDT	EF0	Grayson	0.3	60
April 26	8:53 PM EDT	EF1	Hardin	0.7	125
April 26	8:06 PM CDT	EF0	Caldwell	0.3	50
April 26	9:00 PM CDT	EF0	Hopkins	0.2	50	$2,000

April 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 27	6:32 AM CDT	EF1	Green	3.1	150
April 27	7:02 AM CDT	EF1	Monroe	5.9	550

May 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	7:10 PM CDT	EF2	Christian	17.3	175		1	$350,000

May 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	8:19 PM CDT	EF0	Calloway	0.3	80			$10,000
May 25	9:17 PM CDT	EF0	Calloway	0.4	50			$50,000

June 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	6:39 AM CDT	EF2	Breckinridge	1.0	60			$50,000
June 19	6:43 AM CDT	EF0	Breckinridge	0.1	60			$5,000

June 22 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 22	8:04 PM EDT	EF2	Jefferson	1.2	120	$400,000
June 22	9:29 PM EDT	EF1	Jefferson	1.9	150	$150,000
June 22	9:34 PM EDT	EF2	Jefferson	1.6	100	$175,000
June 22	9:38 PM EDT	EF1	Jefferson	3.5	60	$75,000

September 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	8:25 PM CDT	EF2	Hopkins	0.5	80			$80,000
September 25	8:50 PM CDT	EF1	Christian	1.0	100			$40,000

Crossed into Kentucky

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Kentucky. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 28	3:29 AM CST	EF1	Clark, IN to KY	3.0	100			$7,000
April 25	11:45 PM CDT	EF1	Weakley, TN to KY	15.4	225			$150,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Kentucky since 1950 Warnings in force in Kentucky The live radar over Kentucky

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.