EF3 tornado, Mariba to Cove Gap, Kentucky, March 2, 2012

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 2, 2012

Touchdown

5:39 PM EST (22:39 UTC)

Lifted

7:07 PM EST (00:07 UTC)

On the ground

88 minutes

Path length

85.0 miles (136.7 km)

Path width

1,580 yards (1445 m)

Deaths

10

Injuries

118

Property damage

$81 million

Counties

Menifee, Morgan, Johnson, Lawrence, Wayne and Lincoln counties

Touchdown point

37.905, -83.615

Lift-off point

38.116, -82.080

Record number

1203021639-01

During the afternoon and evening hours of March 2nd, 2012, an historic tornado outbreak occurred in eastern Kentucky. Tornadoes struck Menifee, Morgan, Bath, Wolfe, Laurel, Johnson and Martin Counties causing a combined 16 deaths in those counties. The hardest hit areas were West Liberty in Morgan county, Salyersville in Magoffin county, and East Bernstadt in Laurel county. One of the strongest tornadoes in this outbreak, rated at EF-3 with winds estimated at 140 mph, caused extensive damage in Menifee and Morgan counties. This tornado killed 2 people in Menifee county and took an additional 6 lives in Morgan county. The town of West Liberty was particularly hard hit, with every building in the downtown area suffering some degree of damage. Several homes were swept off their foundations. ||A second EF-3 tornado touched down in extreme southeast Wolfe County and cut a path of damage across portions of Magoffin, Johnson, and Martin Counties. This twister was at its most intense strength in Magoffin and Johnson Counties, with winds estimated at 160 mph. This tornado caused catastrophic damage in parts of Salyersville. This second tornado killed 2 people in Johnson County. ||A third strong tornado caused extensive damage in and near the community of East Bernstadt in Laurel County. This tornado was rated at EF-2 and caused 6 fatalities. Most of these deaths occurred when several trailer homes were picked up and destroyed by the tornado. ||An EF-1 tornado was also confirmed in Bath County. This tornado caused extensive damage to trees, farm buildings and residences along its track. Fortunately, no deaths or injuries occurred as a result of this tornado. ||The storms that occurred on March 2nd also produced very large hail. Reports were received of hailstones as big as baseballs. Extensive damage to trees and structures due to thunderstorm wind gusts also occurred. To top it all off, the heavy rain produced by the large and powerful thunderstorms lead to flash flooding in several counties where tornadoes also occurred.

A deepening low pressure system was lifting northeast out of central Illinois around midday on Friday, the 2nd. It reached southern Michigan by evening. By late afternoon its associated warm front had pulled north into central Ohio and into central West Virginia near Charleston. This left eastern Kentucky in the warm sector. Surface dew points increased into the upper 50s in eastern Kentucky and into the lower 60s across southern Kentucky during the late afternoon, ahead of the approaching cold front. ||Severe thunderstorms, including distinct supercells, moved into eastern Kentucky just before sunset. One of those supercells produced an unusually long lived tornado that moved across Lawrence County. This was the same storm that had hit West Liberty earlier. This tornado briefly crossed into Johnson County before reentering Lawrence County. The tornado killed 2 people along Spencer Branch near Norris and the Left Fork of Little Blaine Creek. After hitting the Chapman and Gallup vicinity, the tornado crossed the Tug Fork River into Wayne County, West Virginia near Glenhayes. ||Another tornado with a long track, stayed south of Lawrence County, affecting Johnson and Martin Counties before ending just across the West Virginia border in Mingo County. This was the same tornado that had hit the Salyersville vicinity earlier.||Large hail also was a major contributor to the damage totals in Lawrence County. One used car lot near Louisa had several vehicles damaged. ||This event was just 2 days after another warm front, followed by a cold front, had triggered severe weather in northeast Kentucky.||This was the first recorded tornado within Lawrence County. President Barack Obama included Lawrence County in the federal disaster in Kentucky. Over 20 other Kentucky counties were also affected. See FEMA disaster number 4057 for more details.

A deepening low pressure system was lifting northeast out of central Illinois around midday on Friday, the 2nd. It reached southern Michigan by evening. By late afternoon its associated warm front had pulled north into central Ohio and into central West Virginia near Charleston. Some small hail fell with the warm front across southern West Virginia during the late morning hours. The warm front struggled to move much further to the northeast. This left eastern Kentucky in the warm sector. During the late afternoon, surface dew points increased into the upper 50s in eastern Kentucky and into the lower 60s across southern Kentucky. This was ahead of the approaching cold front. ||Severe thunderstorms, including distinct supercells, moved into eastern Kentucky just before sunset. One of those supercells produced a long lived tornado that moved into Wayne County from Lawrence County, Kentucky. The tornado crossed the Tug Fork River near Glen Hayes and moved through the Dunlow, Kiahsville, Cove Gap vicinity. It weakened and disispated in Lincoln County. It was the same storm that had hit West Liberty, Kentucky earlier. A shorter track tornado formed a short time later from a separate cell, affecting portions of Lincoln County. ||Another tornado with a long track, crossed the Tug Fork River near Kermit before weakening and lifting in Mingo County. This is the first recorded tornado for Mingo County. This was same supercell thunderstorm that had hit the Salyersville, Kentucky vicinity earlier.||Flooding was also a significant problem. The warm frontal rain kept the ground saturated. The early evening thunderstorms then dumped around 1.5 inches in 3 hours, causing flash flooding on streams, mainly in Wayne and Lincoln Counties. ||In Lincoln County, the total damage from the 2 tornado paths plus the flash flooding was 1 house destroyed, 5 homes with major damage, and 8 others with minor damage. ||Around 2,300 customers lost electricity in Wayne County, with another 2000 in Lincoln County. ||In the aftermath, a few residents around Charleston, including the Kanawha County community of Tornado, found paper envelopes, cancelled checks, and pictures around their property, that had fallen from the sky. The items were from the West Liberty, Kentucky vicinity. ||This event was included with the 29th of February episode as a federal disaster. Around 130 West Virginia National Guard troops were used in the field during the course of this federal disaster. See FEMA disaster number 4059 for additional details.

A storm damage survey team from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Jackson, Kentucky confirmed that an EF-3 tornado occurred in Menifee County on March 2, 2012. The tornado touched down on Tarr Ridge about 2 miles southwest of Mariba at 539 pm EST. The tornado then tracked east-northeast crossing highway 77 and causing extensive damage to several homes. The most extensive damage in Menifee County occurred on Opossum Hollow Road, where several structures were destroyed including a brick house which was totally destroyed except for the basement. The tornado crossed highway 460 just southeast of Wellington and continued into Morgan County. Two fatalities occurred in Menifee County as a direct result of the tornado. One other fatality occurred due to a fall down stairs in the clean-up effort following the tornado.

A storm damage survey team from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Jackson, Kentucky confirmed that an EF-3 tornado tracked from Menifee County into Morgan County on March 2, 2012. The tornado entered Morgan County at around 546 pm EST, just to the northwest of Ezel, and tracked east-northeast making a direct hit on downtown West Liberty at around 558 pm EST. The tornado caused extensive damage to nearly every structure in town, including the 105 year old courthouse, the depression-era WPA building that houses the community center and the 100 year old West Liberty United Methodist and Christian churches. The tornado continued northeast from West Liberty through the remainder of Morgan County, causing extensive damage to numerous structures and downing thousands of trees with a consistent path width of 3/4 to 1 mile throughout the county. Estimated peak winds in Morgan County were 140 mph. The tornado crossed into Lawrence county at 610 pm EST between Moon and Terryville. Six fatalities occurred in Morgan county as a direct result of the tornado.

The long track tornado clipped extreme southwestern Lawrence County, for a few miles around Terryville, before crossing briefly into Johnson County. ||Maximum wind gusts were estimated around 140 mph from damage to mobile homes. Two residents were injured in this segment of the tornado.

The long tracked tornado reentered Lawrence County south of Blaine. The track moved near the Left Fork of Little Blaine Creek then across the Levisa Fork around the Chapman vicinity. The tornado exited into Wayne County, West Virginia, just north of Clifford, near the Donithon Branch vicinity.||A double wide mobile home along Spencer Branch was lifted off its cinder block foundation and slammed into the adjacent hillside. Rescue workers extricated 3 people including an elderly couple and a 14 year old girl. The 65 year old grandmother and the 14 year old girl were killed. The 75 year old grandfather was seriously injured but survived. Two other juvenile occupants of the house escaped without injury. A neighbor in another damaged house was also injured with a broken leg. In the Chapman vicinity, a family of 4 took shelter in their bathtub. The house was destroyed, but they survived. ||Maximum wind gusts of 140 to 150 mph were estimated near Clifford.||Damage assessment in the county included 30 homes destroyed. Another 9 homes had major damage. Over 200 people were approved for individual assistance or housing assistance from FEMA. Over $300,000 was used on debris cleanup and road repairs. The Blaine community building was also damaged.

The tornado crossed the Tug Fork River from Lawrence County, Kentucky and enter Wayne County. Numerous trees were blown down near Glenhayes. The tornado passed between Dunlow and Radnor, then into the Kiahsville and Cove Gap vicinity along Route 37. In the Dunlow vicinity, the damage was from hilltop to hilltop, just over a half mile wide. In that vicinity, about 5 homes were destroyed with 1 sustaining major damage. At least 3 vehicles were damaged in Dunlow. The East Lynn Lake campground vicinity saw toppled trees and damage to electric and phone lines. Approximately 15 homes were destroyed with 7 sustaining major damage around Kiahsville and Cove Gap. The homes included mobile homes and manufactured structures. A 2 story house lost its roof, plus several of the outside walls and an interior wall. The hillsides and narrow roads were littered with uprooted trees, tangled power lines, sheets of metal roofing, and damaged vehicles. A resident near Cove Gap said, we never thought anything like this would get in here. It got in and it didn't want to leave. I guess it wasn't here that long, but it seemed like forever. ||Ironically, it may have been a local funeral that saved lives. A funeral was being held in the community of Wayne that evening for a local Cove Gap resident. Several neighbors attended the funeral and were not at home when the storm hit. When they returned, they found their homes damaged. The tornado then traveled into Lincoln County where it weakened and finally dissipated.||A maximum wind speed of 138 mph was estimated by the survey team in the Dunlow vicinity, resulting in a low end EF3 rating.

The deaths

10 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS JKL issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:08 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:06 UTC and running to 02:00 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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 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 Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:39 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 2012 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 of them

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.