EF2 tornado, Yuba to Robards, Kentucky, April 22, 2011

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 22, 2011

Touchdown

10:50 PM CDT (03:50 UTC)

Lifted

11:05 PM CDT (04:05 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

15.5 miles (25.0 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$880,000

Counties

Union, Webster and Henderson counties

Touchdown point

37.589, -87.841

Lift-off point

37.660, -87.563

Record number

1104222150-01

Bands and clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms produced isolated reports of damaging winds and tornadoes. A fast-moving upper level trough tracked east-northeastward from the central Plains into the upper Midwest. Strong south-southwesterly low level winds across the Mississippi Valley transported Gulf moisture rapidly northward. Thunderstorms increased along and south of a warm front draped across southern Illinois extending into northern Kentucky. Low level shear was moderately strong in the vicinity of the warm front, contributing to the isolated tornadoes.

Several grain bins and barns were destroyed along the Union/Webster County line along Highway 56 and on a secondary road. Dozens of trees were uprooted and snapped. Peak winds were estimated near 125 mph. The average path width was 150 yards. The tornado exited into Webster County.

This tornado entered from Union County along Highway 56 and exited into Henderson County near Poole. While over Webster County, roofs were completely removed from three homes on the north and west side of Poole. Several homes in Poole suffered partial loss of shingles and damage caused primarily by falling trees. Several garages were damaged or destroyed in Poole. Several grain bins and barns were destroyed along the Union County line along Highway 56 and a secondary road. Two grain bins were wrapped around the back side of a house. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. The average path width was 150 yards. Peak winds were estimated near 125 mph.

This tornado crossed from Webster County near the town of Poole into Henderson County. A barn and garage was destroyed southwest of Robards. Dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted. Peak winds were estimated near 125 mph. The average path width was 150 yards.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:51 UTC and running to 06:00 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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.

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:50 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 2011 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

19 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.