EF1 tornado, Stanley to Yelvington, Kentucky, September 8, 2018

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

September 8, 2018

Touchdown

4:30 PM CDT (21:30 UTC)

Lifted

4:31 PM CDT (21:31 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.4 miles (0.7 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3,000

County

Daviess County

Touchdown point

37.854, -86.985

Lift-off point

37.860, -86.983

Record number

1809081530-01

39 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LMK and NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• loss of roof and doors brick and wall east side of home trees snapped and uprooted
• multiple uprooted trees in back part of property facing NW. trees near house had S and SW facing direction.
• several large limbs and a tree trunk snapped, leaves splattered on S side of vehicle
• several large limbs and a tree trunk snapped, leaves spattered against S side of vehicle

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

The remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon merged with a cold front over the mid-section of the country. The tropical moisture squeezed out by the front produced widespread heavy rainfall. During the afternoon hours, there was enough solar heating and destabilization for thunderstorms to increase across western Kentucky. Enough low-level wind shear was present for a few rotating storms and tornadoes in the Owensboro area.

Peak winds in this tornado were estimated near 110 mph. The tornado skirted the southern and eastern parts of the small community of Stanley. There were several witnesses to this widely filmed and documented tornado. A well-defined, convergent damage path was evident in drone footage of the area. The east wall of one home was nearly completely destroyed. Roofs were torn off a few barns and sheds. Several homes received light siding and fascia damage. Corn and tobacco crops were flattened. Several dozen trees were uprooted or topped. The tornado reached its strongest point where it crossed U.S. Highway 60 at Stanley. This tornado was the strongest of four tornadoes that were spawned by a cluster of storms in the Owensboro area.

This weak tornado caused no property damage, however a path of crop damage was visible in drone footage. Peak winds were estimated near 80 mph. The tornado touched down on Highway 279 and continued northeast for about 0.6 miles to Highway 56. The tornado track was based on video and drone footage.

Peak winds in this half-mile long tornado were estimated near 95 mph. The tornado touched down midway between the small communities of Maceo and Yelvington. A few trees were snapped, and there was minor soffit damage to a home. The damage survey was based upon drone footage and other pictures.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:15 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:47 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 21:57 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), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:31 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 2018 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.