Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky

2020 tornadoes in Kentucky

22 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky in 2020, 35 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Kentucky in 2020

January 11 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
January 11	5:17 AM CST	EF1	Graves	2.0	230	$2.0 million
January 11	5:42 AM CST	EF1	Marshall	2.3	25	$30,000
January 11	6:50 AM CST	EF1	Trigg	4.5	75	$80,000
January 11	7:00 AM CST	EF0	Trigg	4.2	50	$50,000
January 11	7:05 AM CST	EF1	Caldwell	10.0	250	$150,000
January 11	7:12 AM CST	EF1	Caldwell	7.5	175	$130,000
January 11	7:19 AM CST	EF1	Christian	3.0	200	$80,000
January 11	7:34 AM CST	EF1	Christian	10.9	100	$250,000
January 11	7:40 AM CST	EF1	Christian	2.6	50	$15,000

March 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 2	8:00 PM CST	EF1	Christian	5.5	400			$80,000

March 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 3	12:15 AM CST	EF2	Allen	2.7	250			$200,000

March 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 12	10:07 PM EDT	EF1	McCreary	1.7	175			$150,000

March 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 28	7:58 PM CDT	EF2	Henderson	16.8	500			$500,000
March 28	8:18 PM CDT	EF2	Henderson to IN	5.1	575		2	$2.0 million

April 8 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 8	10:27 PM EDT	EF0	Gallatin	0.5	50	$30,000
April 8	10:40 PM EDT	EF1	Grant	2.4	500	$35,000
April 8	10:42 PM EDT	EF0	Kenton	1.2	100	$20,000
April 8	10:47 PM EDT	EF1	Grant	19.2	400	$45,000
April 8	11:16 PM EDT	EF0	Robertson	1.0	50	$25,000
April 8	11:20 PM EDT	EF1	Nelson	4.0	45	$200,000
April 8	11:25 PM EDT	EF0	Mason	1.2	50	$15,000

October 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 23	3:18 PM CDT	Unrated	Graves	0.3	30

Nearby

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