EF1 tornado, Strathmoor Manor to Eastwood, Kentucky, June 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 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 22, 2011

Touchdown

9:38 PM EDT (01:38 UTC)

Lifted

9:45 PM EDT (01:45 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

38.203, -85.549

Lift-off point

38.216, -85.485

Record number

1106221938-01

A deep occluded closed low across the Upper Midwest brought a cold front and wind shift along the Ohio River during the early evening hours on June 22nd. Scattered storms developed to the west of Louisville during the late afternoon and intensified as they moved east into Jefferson County, Kentucky. Although instability was marginal, a jet streak aloft combined with directional wind shear closer the the surface allowed several low topped supercells to develop just to the west of Louisville. The first storm generated a tornado that damaged several horse barns at Churchill Downs and destroyed a large industrial building just southeast of the University of Louisville's football stadium. A second rotating supercell tracked just to the south of the first storm, spawning three brief tornadoes along a west to east path in the eastern part of the Louisville Metro area.

This tornado was the first of three separate touchdowns associated with a single supercell that tracked across the southern portion of Jefferson County. Initially, this tornado touched down at EF-0 strength near the intersection of Nachand Lane and Nachand Spring Lane where minor shingle damage and snapped trees were surveyed. After moving into the Hurstbourne Woods subdivision, the twister damaged a locked pool gate and blew it 35 yards downwind. This subdivision sustained EF-1 damage with gutters, soffits, and siding from various structures deposited in trees. At 9407 Willowwood Way, roof damage was noted, along with many uprooted hardwood and softwood trees. After making a brief 25 degree northward turn near the end of its life, the tornado brought minor roof damage before lifting near the intersection of Lisa Lane and Calais Drive.

The public reported a second tornado touchdown near the same time and location where the first one ended. After touching down just east of Saint Edward Catholic Church on Sue Helen Drive, this tornado uprooted trees and damaged the roofs of around one dozen homes along Saint Edwards Drive. Damage also was surveyed along Charlane Parkway and Dell Road. At the corner of Maple Road and Galene Drive, a large section of an oak tree split and was driven into a wall at Tully School. Low end EF-2 structural and roof damage was also noted at at the Good Samaritan Society Nursing Home. Two vehicles in a parking lot were flipped and moved 25 feet. After briefly lifting, this tornado then damaged both Dillard's and Machinery Specialty's warehouses along Electron Drive. The brick facades of both building were pushed out. After throwing a small shed 30 yards near the Dillard's Warehouse, the twister lifted just near the intersection of Electron Drive and Ampere Drive.

The last in a series of tornadoes spawned by the same storm touched down near the intersection of Electron and Ampere Drives, near the same location that the second twister lifted. This tornado was intermittently on the ground for 3.5 miles, crossing Interstate 265 and lifting just east of 1600 South English Station Road. Near the touchdown point, an air-conditioning unit was blown off the roof of JCK Enterprises. Several corporate buildings and warehouses on Electron Drive had roof and siding damage. EF-1 damage to some steel framing and stucco was noted at the Oxmoor Collision Center and the RBI Corporation. More than one dozen trees were uprooted around the Tucker House Bed and Breakfast on Tucker Station Road. The public reported a rope like tornado lifting just west of Interstate 265 and touching down again near 1600 South English Station Road. EF-0 damage was noted to several trees and a satellite dish at this location.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

25 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:13 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 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 0.02 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 Louisville radar (KLVX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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

7 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.