EF0 tornado, Minerva to Ripley, Kentucky, June 24, 2019

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

June 24, 2019

Touchdown

4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)

Lifted

4:21 PM CDT (21:21 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

5.7 miles (9.2 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

Counties

Mason and Brown counties

Touchdown point

38.677, -83.915

Lift-off point

38.729, -83.832

Record number

1906241513-01

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed along an advancing warm front. A couple of the thunderstorms produced tornadoes.

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed along an advancing warm front. A couple of the thunderstorms produced tornadoes.

The tornado touched down between the AA Highway and Kentucky 435. Damage was found along Kentucky 435, Minerva Tuckahoe Road, and Tuckahoe Road. Some of the heaviest and most concentrated tree damage was found very near the Ohio River on South Ripley Road, and adjacent areas of Mary Ingles Highway (Highway 8). The survey team found tree and agricultural building damage along the length of the path in Mason County. The vast majority of structural damage in Mason County consisted of barns and outbuildings with roof panels removed. The concentrated area of tree damage near the Ohio River showed clear signs of convergent damage patterns and cross-axis debris fall to the path of the circulation, confirming the likelihood of a tornadic circulation.||Across the Ohio River in the eastern side of Ripley, tree and shingle damage was found on Pearl Street, Kevin Drive, and portions of Elizabeth Street. There was little to no evidence of damage up the steep river bluff above the city of Ripley, suggesting the tornado was lifting as it moved into the city.

The tornado touched down between the AA Highway and Kentucky 435 in Mason County Kentucky. Some of the heaviest and most concentrated tree damage was found very near the Ohio River on South Ripley Road, and adjacent areas of Mary Ingles Highway (Highway 8). The survey team found tree and agricultural building damage along the length of the path in Mason County. The vast majority of structural damage in Mason County consisted of barns and outbuildings with roof panels removed. ||Across the Ohio River in the eastern side of Ripley, tree and shingle damage was found on Pearl Street, Kevin Drive, and portions of Elizabeth Street. There was little to no evidence of damage up the steep river bluff above the city of Ripley, suggesting the tornado was lifting as it moved into the city.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:50 UTC and running to 21:54 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:43 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 Cincinnati radar (KILN), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:12 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 2019 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.