EF1 tornado, St John to Kraft, Kentucky, March 18, 2022

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

March 18, 2022

Touchdown

10:38 PM EDT (02:38 UTC)

Lifted

10:48 PM EDT (02:48 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

4.1 miles (6.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hardin County

Touchdown point

37.703, -86.005

Lift-off point

37.731, -85.939

Record number

2203182038-01

33 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 100 mph.

• At johns and speeds lane, home also damaged nearby
• Impaled wood at varying directions nearby
• Debris in several directions nearby
• Debris thrown all over field

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

A cold front associated with a larger low pressure system move east through the Lower Ohio Valley on the evening of the 18th. This caused thunderstorms to move over southern Indiana and north central Kentucky, resulting in multiple reports of severe wind damage and five tornadoes across the area.

A tornado touched down near the intersection of Spears Lane and St John Road. Damage was observed to a barn roof, which was completely lifted away. Debris was thrown mostly to the northeast, but in several varying direction including impaled wood planks in the nearby field. The tornado then crossed St John Road and struck a single residence with major roof loss and demolishing an outbuilding garage. The tornado continued to French Lane and Fuller Road where tree damage was observed, including debris of construction materials thrown into a nearby field. Damage continued across St John Church Road towards Kraft Road where isolated tree damage was observed. Some barn panel loss was observed along Thomas Road and tree damage continued toward Leasor Lane, as well as a single family residence having some minor roof panel damage.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:47 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.

Elizabethtown (EKX), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:35 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 2022 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.