EF1 tornado, Fenton to Cadiz, Kentucky, January 11, 2020

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

January 11, 2020

Touchdown

6:50 AM CST (12:50 UTC)

Lifted

6:56 AM CST (12:56 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$80,000

County

Trigg County

Touchdown point

36.720, -88.070

Lift-off point

36.730, -87.990

Record number

2001110650-01

14 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 105 mph.

• Trees uprooted. Large branches snapped.
• Tree blocking road on survey
• Many dozen trees snapped and uprooted. Clear convergence noted in the damage. About 1/10 mile south there was clear microburst damage. Tornado likely continued east over Lake Barkely into Donaldson Creek south of Cumberland Shores but no damage was found.
• Carport shifted off its foundation but in one piece. Large branches down at residence too.

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

An unseasonably strong storm system impacted the region January 10-11. Heavy rainfall, flooding, scattered damaging winds, tornadoes, and gusty non-thunderstorm winds impacted western Kentucky during this time. The bulk of the event occurred overnight and into the morning hours on the 11th. Rainfall totals ranged from 2 to 5 inches, which resulted in pockets of flash flooding across the region, as well as minor flooding of the Green River. Strong to severe convection over the Ozark Mountains moved east into an environment of very strong wind shear over southeast Missouri, with 850 mb winds near 60 knots. The convection maintained intensity after it crossed the Mississippi River during the early morning hours. Tremendous wind shear (winds of 50 knots down to 1500 feet above ground) and strong forcing associated with a potent 500 mb shortwave compensated for weak instability. Some of the strong winds aloft reached the surface in the form of gradient wind gusts from 40 to around 50 mph. A weak surface low formed along a cold front over southwest Arkansas, then deepened as it tracked northeast across the Missouri Bootheel and into the lower Ohio Valley on the morning of the 11th.

The tornado occurred in heavily wooded terrain on federally protected land. The tornado touched down in the Redd Hollow area (west of the Trace Highway) in the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area. Damage continued east to just south of the Wranglers Campground. The tornado could have crossed into Lake Barkley and Donaldson Creek, but no evidence was found further east. The heaviest area of damage was south of Wranglers Campground, where many dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted. Just south of the track, a microburst occurred where many trees were snapped and uprooted. Peak winds in this tornado were estimated near 105 mph.

The tornado touched down just east of Blue Spring and tracked eastward just north of Blue Spring Road. It continued east northeast to just southwest of Cadiz. Several trees up to 3.5 feet in diameter were snapped and/or uprooted. There were several homes with minor roof damage and one that had moderate roof damage. One metal building had its garage door blown in. A large branch fell on a vehicle at one residence. A carport was shifted off its supports. Peak winds in this tornado were estimated near 85 mph.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:49 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:08 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 05:38 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 Ft Campbell radar (KHPX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:48 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 2020 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 63 of them

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.