EF0 tornado, Crofton to Greenville, Kentucky, March 27, 2016

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF0

Date

March 27, 2016

Touchdown

7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)

Lifted

7:40 PM CDT (00:40 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

4.9 miles (7.8 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$4,000

Counties

Muhlenberg and Christian counties

Touchdown point

37.118, -87.324

Lift-off point

37.149, -87.244

Record number

1603271835-01

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

• several tree tops snapped and some mature trees leaning northward

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Thunderstorms increased in coverage and intensity during the afternoon hours ahead of an advancing cold front over southern Illinois and southeast Missouri. Large hail accompanied a couple of the storms due to unseasonably cold air aloft. Wind profiles aloft favored cellular activity, including a couple of supercells that spawned tornadoes.

Minor roof damage occurred on two homes. A few trees were uprooted or snapped. Large tree limbs were down. The average path width was 75 yards. Peak winds were estimated near 80 mph. Much of the path was along or near Highway 800 west of Crofton.

This weak tornado formed just inside the Christian County line along Highway 189 near the Pond River. This tornado was spawned by the same parent cell that was responsible for the EF-2 tornado in northern Christian County. The tornado then tracked into Muhlenberg County within one minute of touching down. Small tree limbs were broken. Peak winds in the Christian County portion of the path were estimated near 60 mph. The average path width was 50 yards.

This weak tornado crossed into a forested area of Muhlenberg County from Christian County. Several tree tops were snapped, and numerous large limbs were blown down. Some tin was blown off an outbuilding. Much of the path was along Highway 189. The average path width was 50 yards. Peak winds were estimated near 75 mph.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:17 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:50 UTC and running to 01:50 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 20:00 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.

Madisonville (2I0), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Ft Campbell radar (KHPX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:33 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 2016 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.