Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky

2015 tornadoes in Kentucky

17 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky in 2015, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2014 2016 The whole country in 2015

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.

  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 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.

Every tornado in Kentucky in 2015

April 7 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 76:57 PM EDTEF0Madison0.635$60,000
April 77:03 PM EDTEF1Madison2.0215$15,000

April 25 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 255:24 PM CDTEF0Henderson0.8275$20,000
April 258:29 PM CDTEF1Adair3.8150$150,000
April 259:12 PM CDTEF2Edmonson0.2220

June 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 191:30 PM CDTEF0Graves1.8150$4,000

July 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 14:00 PM EDTEF0Pulaski0.3100

July 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 53:26 PM CDTEF0Webster1.030

July 7 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 75:29 PM EDTEF0Fleming0.350

July 10 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 1010:35 AM EDTEF0Meade3.2100
July 1010:38 AM EDTEF0Hardin2.5100$25,000
July 1010:53 AM EDTEF0Bullitt0.9150$75,000

July 13 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 135:20 PM CDTEF1Green1.150$200,000
July 135:58 PM CDTEF0Adair1.535$1,000
July 136:13 PM CDTEF0Cumberland0.7100$50,000

July 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 145:38 PM EDTEF1Fleming0.5200$50,000

December 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 238:11 PM ESTEF1Pendleton3.84203$120,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in KentuckyThe 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.