EF1 tornado, Avoca to Toddspoint, Kentucky, March 31, 2023

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 31, 2023

Touchdown

12:30 AM EDT (04:30 UTC)

Lifted

12:34 AM EDT (04:34 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.4 km)

Path width

130 yards (119 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Jefferson and Shelby counties

Touchdown point

38.270, -85.497

Lift-off point

38.285, -85.426

Record number

2303312230-01

41 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 90 mph.

• Direction appears ESE, divergent from the point to the left of another tree uproot. Multiple trees with damage here on ridge along Bush Farm road.
• Pet disposal unit was bent.
• Tree snapped higher up in the tree. It may have been moved.
• Swing set got thrown into hood of car, leaving gash.

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

During the night of March 31 into April 1, a low pressure system, moving east across the Upper Midwest towards the Great Lakes, dragged a trailing cold front through the Lower Ohio Valley. This produced a broken line of severe storms that moved west to east over parts of central Kentucky, resulting in multiple reports of tree damage, isolated structural damage, and a tornado that affected Jefferson and Shelby Counties.

The National Weather Service conducted a storm assessment survey across Eastern Jefferson County from storms early Saturday morning just after midnight on April 1. The survey team found an EF1 tornado with maximum winds of 90 mph. The tornado went a little over 4 miles intermittently and crossed over into extreme northwestern Shelby County.||The tornado first touched down just east of I-265 (Gene Snyder Freeway)|at a large warehouse by Terra View Trail. The western edge of the warehouse was partially peeled back and insulation was thrown off to the north through easterly directions. A portion of the tornado was aloft, based on the lack of tree damage initially, until it hit a plastic surgery center off of Bush Farm Road which sustained roof damage. This consisted of shingle and fascia damage. Most of that was cleaned up and repaired by the time of the survey. There was insulation on the backside of the three-story building.||The street sign was bent back and turned to the northeast at Arnold Palmer Boulevard near Chestnut Ridge. There was sporadic tree damage along Chestnut Ridge Circle, and at 15107 Chestnut Ridge Circle a doorbell camera showed an intense loud 20 second burst of wind and rain. The homeowner stated that the entire house was shaking,|and several trees were snapped and twisted, and their garbage tote was found two houses over behind that house. Behind their house across Lake Forest Country Club were several uprooted and twisted trees. Most of the trees were laying from the north|northeast to due east. There was sporadic wind damage along Champion Lakes Way, with several houses sustaining gutter and fascia damage. The maximum wind speed in Lake Forest was 85 mph with a width of 75 yards. ||The tornado took a southward jog along Flat Rock Road and increased in wind speed and width. All along Flat Rock Road there were dozens and dozens of trees snapped, twisted and uprooted. The width of the tornado increased to 130 yards wide and the wind speed increased to 90 mph. Several residents heard a distinct roar and had their ears pop. There was shingle and fascia damage.||The tornado took a northward jog and crossed into northwestern Shelby County.

This tornado formed approximately 1.4 miles north of Avoca near the Gene Snyder Freeway and tracked east-northeast for approximately 2.7 miles before exiting Jefferson County and into northwest Shelby County. ||In Shelby County, the twister did sporadic wind damage along Crabapple Lane. Trees were snapped and twisted and some uprooted. Wind speeds were between 80 and 85 mph and the width decreased to less than 100 yards. The tornado crossed Kentucky Route 362 (Ash Ave) along the southern portion of Persimmon Ridge Golf Club. The main damage was shingle loss to homes, and sporadic tree damage.||The last damage point was along Persimmon Ridge Road, paralleling Aiken Road.

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 tornado watch, issued at 00:01 UTC and running to 06:07 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:04 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.

Louisville/Bowman (LOU), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:28 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 2023 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

126 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 127 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.