EF1 tornado, Cuba to Mayfield Graves Arpt, Kentucky, May 4, 2021

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

May 4, 2021

Touchdown

3:55 AM CDT (08:55 UTC)

Lifted

4:00 AM CDT (09:00 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

4.7 miles (7.5 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$165,000

County

Graves County

Touchdown point

36.554, -88.652

Lift-off point

36.570, -88.570

Record number

2105040255-01

84 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 104 mph.

• Broken windows, siding blown partially off, large garage door blown in
• A couple dozen large pine and oak trees snapped, some varying directions in damage

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

Clusters of storms, followed by a bowing line of thunderstorms, organized and accelerated east-northeastward during the overnight and wee morning hours. Several tornadoes accompanied mesovortices along the bowing line of storms. In addition, a particularly strong microburst was associated with the line. Finally, the occurrence of multiple thunderstorms resulted in localized flash flooding in the Pennyrile region. A mid-level shortwave trough moved east across the southern Plains. A belt of stronger southwesterly 500 mb winds spread northeast ahead of the trough into southeast Missouri and Arkansas. Instability was sufficient for a round of severe thunderstorms to occur.

Several farm buildings, including a large shop, lost parts or all of their roofs, with several smaller structures destroyed. At least a couple of homes had mainly minor damage to roofs or siding. Dozens of large trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado travelled right along Highway 94 from southwest of Cuba to the Lynnville area. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph.

The narrow, well-defined path was in a rural farmland and wooded area. A well-constructed modern home suffered minor to moderate roof damage. The tornado followed a creek bed for the last quarter mile, where a small patch of very large trees was snapped or uprooted. A well head was blown into a house, damaging the siding. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 06:42 UTC and running to 09:16 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:30 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.

Mayfield (M25), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:52 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 2021 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

38 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.