EF1 tornado, Jericho to New Castle, Kentucky, April 2, 2024

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

April 2, 2024

Touchdown

5:58 PM EDT (21:58 UTC)

Lifted

6:09 PM EDT (22:09 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

7.8 miles (12.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Henry County

Touchdown point

38.408, -85.290

Lift-off point

38.423, -85.148

Record number

2404021558-01

73 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LMK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

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

As a surface low cut across Missouri and Illinois, its eastward stretching warm front moved north across central Indiana while its cold front moved east towards the Lower Ohio Valley. This placed central Kentucky in the warm sector, where 3 separate lines of convection moved through during the day. The first line of storms generating from an early morning outflow boundary dropped southeast through the area. This produced six tornadoes, mainly through the Bluegrass region. The second line, moving west to east, just produced some passing showers and thunderstorms. The third line, just ahead of the cold front, moved through during the evening hours. This produced three more tornadoes along the Interstate 71 corridor. One of these tornadoes began in Clark County, Indiana before crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky.

The National Weather Service in Louisville confirmed an EF1 tornado in south central Henry County starting near Jericho and ending southeast of New Castle.||The tornado touched down near the intersection of state routes 153 and 712. Keepers Restaurant had roof damage, a travel trailer moved 15 yards, and many boards were impaled into the ground. There were extensive topped and uprooted trees behind the Dollar General. Winds were 90 mph, EF1, with a width of 125 yards. ||The tornado destroyed a double wide mobile home, then snapped and uprooted trees along Whitaker Lane. The mobile home was loosely anchored, and the family had heard the NWS tornado warning. Together with other family members next door, they all went to a well constructed home nearby and everyone survived! Winds increased to 110 mph, EF1, with a width of 175 yards. ||The tornado did plenty of topped and uprooted tree damage along Bates Lane and Hieatt Lane over to Jackson Creek. Most of this damage was 80-85 mph, EF1, with a width of 125 mph, but one barn had extensive roof damage, and was EF1, 9O mph wind, with a width of 125 yards. ||Next, the survey team observed topped and twisted trees along with gutter and roof shingle damage at Sunnyside Rd and Jackson Rd. Maximum winds were 90 mph, EF1, with a width of 200 yards. ||The tornado continued eastward and hit the south side of New Castle. It hit 2 metal building warehouses and a large storage shed damaging side and roofing panels. Winds were 90 to 95 mph, EF1, with a width of 175 yards. There were plenty of straight |line winds of 80 mph on the north side of the tornado, especially on the northwestern side. ||The tornado crossed US 421 and damaged a bunch of power poles and lines on KY 573 (South Property Road) with a lot of topped pine and cedar trees. Max winds were 85 mph, EF0, with a width of 125 yards. ||The last damage point was at the end of Burrett Lane, with a few twisted large branches and topped trees. Max winds were 75 mph, EF0, with a width of 75 yards.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:35 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:49 UTC and running to 00:17 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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 Louisville radar (KLVX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:59 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 2024 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

68 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 69 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.