Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2019

EF1 tornado, Frazertown to Ballardsville, Kentucky, April 12, 2019

Name: EF1 tornado, Frazertown to Ballardsville, Kentucky, April 12, 2019
Start: 2019-04-12T10:45:00.000Z
End: 2019-04-12T10:54:00.000Z
Location: Frazertown to Ballardsville, Kentucky

From Frazertown to Ballardsville, this EF1 tornado ran 8.3 miles across Oldham County on April 12, 2019, touching down at 6:45 AM EDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 of property damage.

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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF1
Date: April 12, 2019
Touchdown: 6:45 AM EDT (10:45 UTC)
Lifted: 6:54 AM EDT (10:54 UTC)
On the ground: 9 minutes
Path length: 8.3 miles (13.4 km)
Path width: 300 yards (274 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $100,000
County: Oldham County
Touchdown point: 38.324, -85.519
Lift-off point: 38.370, -85.376
Record number: 1904120445-01

The damage survey

96 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LMK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 101 mph.

small boat lifted up and turned 180 degrees
siding on left was blown from house due south. bench on right moved 40 yards north
upper part of garage door bent inward slightly.
swing thrown into porch ceiling..leaving blue paint mark up there

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front moved through central Kentucky on the morning of April 12th. Ahead of the front, temperatures were in the 70, and behind it temperatures dropped into the 50s. Besides dropping temperatures, the front brought a line of thunderstorms with damaging winds in addition to a small tornado.

An EF-1 tornado tracked 8.3 miles across Oldham County with a maximum path width of 300 yards. The tornado mostly did damage to the upper halves of several trees along its path. There were a couple of areas where it fully descended to the surface and caused more widespread damage. Along Shelburn Dr, a front porch with four columns was lifted, collapsing the columns and throwing the front half of the roof 100 yards to the northeast. The last visible damage was on Georgie Way, occurring 9 minutes after the start time.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:48 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 12, 6:37 AM EDT, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 12, 6:37 AM EDT, 8 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 12, 3:48 AM EDT, 2 hours 57 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Louisville KY
348 AM EDT Fri Apr 12 2019

INZ076>079-083-084-089>092-KYZ023>043-045>049-053>057-061>067-
070>078-081-082-130800-
Orange-Washington-Scott-Jefferson-Dubois-Crawford-Perry-Harrison-
Floyd-Clark-Hancock-Breckinridge-Meade-Ohio-Grayson-Hardin-Bullitt-
Oldham-Trimble-Henry-Shelby-Franklin-Spencer-Anderson-Woodford-
Fayette-Bourbon-Nicholas-Nelson-Mercer-Jessamine-Larue-Marion-Boyle-
Garrard-Madison-Butler-Edmonson-Hart-Green-Taylor-Casey-Lincoln-
Logan-Warren-Simpson-Allen-Barren-Monroe-Metcalfe-Adair-Russell-
Cumberland-Clinton-
Including the cities of Paoli, Salem, Scottsburg, Madison, Jasper,
English, Tell City, Corydon, New Albany, Jeffersonville, Lewisport,
Hawesville, Hardinsburg, Brandenburg, Hartford, Leitchfield,
Elizabethtown, Shepherdsville, Louisville, La Grange, Bedford,
Milton, New Castle, Shelbyville, Frankfort, Georgetown, Cynthiana,
Taylorsville, Lawrenceburg, Versailles, Lexington, Paris, Carlisle,
Bardstown, Springfield, Harrodsburg, Nicholasville, Winchester,
Hodgenville, Lebanon, Danville, Lancaster, Richmond, Morgantown,
Brownsville, Horse Cave, Greensburg, Campbellsville, Liberty,
Stanford, Russellville, Bowling Green, Franklin, Providence,
Scottsville, Glasgow, Tompkinsville, Edmonton, Columbia, Jamestown,
Burkesville, and Albany
348 AM EDT Fri Apr 12 2019 /248 AM CDT Fri Apr 12 2019/

This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of south central
Indiana and Central Kentucky.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight.

A band of showers with a few isolated storms will push through the
outlook area this morning. No organized severe weather is expected,
but the showers could contain gusty winds and brief heavy rainfall.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday.

Another storm system will bring showers and thunderstorms to the
region late Saturday and into Sunday. Some of the storms on Sunday
could be strong to severe with damaging winds being the primary
severe weather risk.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be requested on Sunday.

MJ/CG

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 12, 6:05 AM EDT, 40 minutes before

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Louisville KY
605 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

INZ090-KYZ025-028>030-121030-
Harrison-Jefferson-Bullitt-Meade-Hardin-
605 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT SOUTHEASTERN HARRISON...
SOUTHEASTERN MEADE...JEFFERSON...NORTH CENTRAL HARDIN AND
NORTHWESTERN BULLITT COUNTIES...

At 605 AM EDT, a strong thunderstorm was located near Brandenburg,
moving northeast at 60 mph.

Winds in excess of 40 mph are possible with this storm.

Locations impacted include...
Louisville, Jeffersonville, Jeffersontown, St. Matthews, Shively,
Shepherdsville, Lyndon, Hurstbourne, Graymoor-Devondale and
Brandenburg.

LAT...LON 3833 8564 3810 8546 3781 8614 3797 8626
      3827 8575 3829 8568
TIME...MOT...LOC 1005Z 237DEG 52KT 3794 8613

MJ

Special weather statement, Apr 12, 6:13 AM EDT, 32 minutes before

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Louisville KY
613 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

KYZ047-048-054>057-066-067-121045-
Boyle-Mercer-Jessamine-Marion-Lincoln-Madison-Garrard-Casey-
613 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT NORTHWESTERN LINCOLN...
SOUTHEASTERN MERCER...NORTHWESTERN GARRARD...EASTERN MARION...
SOUTHERN JESSAMINE...BOYLE...WEST CENTRAL MADISON AND NORTH CENTRAL
CASEY COUNTIES...

At 612 AM EDT, a strong thunderstorm was located 10 miles north of
Liberty, moving northeast at 55 mph.

Winds in excess of 40 mph are possible with this storm.

Locations impacted include...
Nicholasville, Danville, Stanford, Lancaster, Mccreary, Wilmore,
Junction City, Burgin, Hustonville and Peytons Store.

LAT...LON 3735 8492 3747 8508 3791 8465 3773 8440
TIME...MOT...LOC 1012Z 222DEG 46KT 3747 8494

MJ

Special weather statement, Apr 12, 6:15 AM EDT, 30 minutes before

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Louisville KY
615 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

KYZ035>037-039-040-121045-
Scott-Woodford-Franklin-Harrison-Anderson-
615 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2019

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT NORTHERN WOODFORD...SCOTT...
NORTHEASTERN ANDERSON...SOUTHWESTERN HARRISON AND EASTERN FRANKLIN
COUNTIES...

At 615 AM EDT, a strong thunderstorm was located over Lawrenceburg,
moving northeast at 55 mph.

Winds in excess of 40 mph are possible with this storm.

Locations impacted include...
Georgetown, Frankfort, Lawrenceburg, Versailles, Midway, Stamping
Ground, Sadieville, Longlick, Slickway and Alberta.

LAT...LON 3838 8434 3796 8485 3807 8502 3834 8478
      3835 8475 3837 8471 3842 8465 3843 8462
      3849 8456 3850 8453
TIME...MOT...LOC 1015Z 219DEG 49KT 3808 8488

MJ

Special weather statement, Apr 12, 6:26 AM EDT, 19 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 12, 6:39 AM EDT, 6 minutes before

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The air that afternoon

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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

10.8 hours before the tornado, 187 km from the path. April 12, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -72677 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2359 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 191 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 187 km from the path. April 12, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -101 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1489 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 494 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 549 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Louisville/Bowman (LOU), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:47 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2019 tornado in Kentucky Every tornado in Kentucky since 1950 Warnings in force in Kentucky now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 12, 2019

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 12	8:32 AM EDT	EF0	Clark, OH	0.8	25	$15,000
April 12	8:34 AM EDT	Unrated	Clark, OH	1.0	25
April 12	6:40 PM EDT	EF0	Harnett, NC	4.9	100	$10,000

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.