EF2 tornado, Maple Grove to Pembroke, Kentucky, May 26, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 26, 2024

Touchdown

8:59 AM CDT (13:59 UTC)

Lifted

9:14 AM CDT (14:14 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

19.0 miles (30.5 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$205,000

Counties

Trigg and Christian counties

Touchdown point

36.759, -87.728

Lift-off point

36.788, -87.389

Record number

2405260759-01

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, 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.

The second major severe weather outbreak for the month occurred on the 26th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a shortwave trough centered in the middle of the country with a 60 kt mid-level jet moved across northern Arkansas. A weak surface low was moving into SE Missouri during the morning with a secondary low located further northwest. A warm frontal boundary was draped across our area. A bowing line progressed east across SE Missouri into W Kentucky and far S Illinois between 0500-1000CST, followed by a mostly sub-severe second line that exited the region by 1300CST. The environment recovered producing fuel for more severe storms, starting with supercells 1800-2100CST with a line of storms moving east-southeastward across the entire Quad State after 1900CST, crossing through by midnight. Across the Quad State, this event produced the record for most tornado track miles in a single day in office history, along with the second most warnings issued in a day (just behind the May 8, 2024 event). Widespread straight-line wind and tornado damage resulted in over 100,000 customers without power across the Quad State.||For the morning, MLCAPE values at 0700CST were 1000-2000 J/kg in W Kentucky. Effective bulk shear was 30-40 kts with STP around 1, which increased in the following hours. Precipitable water was 1.5-1.8 inches, allowing for torrential rainfall rates.||The morning round of storms produced widespread destructive straight-line wind damage leading to numerous power outages across the southernmost portions of W Kentucky from the Jackson Purchase Area to the Southern Pennyrile. Two EF-1 tornadoes occurred in Calloway County, with one of them tracking 22 miles. One person was injured when thunderstorm winds caused a tree to fall on his vehicle on Rockwood Rd in Calloway County. Two more tornadoes formed in Trigg County, one an EF-1, and an EF-2 that produced its strongest damage south of Hopkinsville in Christian County. Another EF-1 tornado formed northwest of Bremen and tracked northeastward to Island in McLean County. Torrential rainfall rates led to a few reports of flash flooding in Western Kentucky during the morning to early afternoon hours. ||Heading into the evening, MLCAPE values at 1800CST were 2000-3500 J/kg in W Kentucky. For W Kentucky, effective bulk shear rose to 45-55 kts, with SRH around 200-400 m2/s2 and STP of 2-4. 0-1 km shear was 20-30 kts. Mid-level lapse rates were 7-7.5 C/km. DCAPE of 1100-1400 J/kg provided ample opportunity for downburst winds.||Late afternoon to early evening supercells produced hail reports and a long-track EF-3 tornado that began in Lyon County, then continued east-northeastward through Caldwell and Hopkins Counties. Severe structural damage occurred between Dawson Springs and Charleston and at least one family in Barnsley lost their home for the second time with the previous instance being the historic December 10, 2021 tornado. 21 people were injured (4 in Caldwell, 17 in Hopkins) while two people lost their lives, one in Hopkins County from the tornado (48f, direct), and one in Caldwell County due to a heart attack while cleaning up tornado debris (54m, indirect). The cold front swept through, producing more straight-line wind damage and flash flooding. As the line caught up to the supercell tornado, the storm became much more muddled, with an EF-1 tornado taking shape in Muhlenberg County tracking southeastward through Beech Creek and Beechmont, and continuing as a long track tornado reaching areas north of Bowling Green. Late night power outages were widespread along the tornado tracks in Lyon, Hopkins, Caldwell, and Muhlenberg Counties, which other counties with around half the county without power included Calloway, Trigg, Christian, and Todd Counties. Rainfall amounts of 2.5 to 4 inches were commonplace, with locally higher totals in southern Trigg and Christian Counties. Brief minor flooding occurred for the third time this month on part of the S. Fork Little River near Hopkinsville.

An EF-1 tornado formed in Trigg County southeast of Cumberland Shores, tracking eastward just south of KY-807 and ending around KY-139 south of Cadiz. Mainly tree damage occurred, with many large limbs down and a few trees uprooted in rural areas. Peak winds with this tornado were estimated at 95 mph.

An EF-2 tornado (max EF-1 in Trigg County) started near KY-525 southeast of Cadiz. The tornado tracked eastward along Tuggle Rd, producing tree damage, before entering Christian County at Newstead Rd. Peak estimated winds with the Trigg County segment of the tornado were 100 mph.

An EF-2 tornado began in Trigg County, southeast of Cadiz, crossing over into Christian County at Newstead Rd. The tornado tracked eastward, shifting to east-northeastward near I-24. After crossing the Pennyrile Parkway and Fort Campbell Blvd, the tornado lifted at John Rivers Rd northwest of Pembroke. Damage to numerous homes occurred due to downed trees. Two homes were directly impacted due to the tornado winds, with roof damage. Many trees were snapped or uprooted. Several farm buildings were damaged. Peak estimated winds with this tornado in Christian County, and for the tornado as a whole, were 115 mph.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:37 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:34 UTC and running to 14:40 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:56 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.

Fort Campbell (Aaf) (HOP), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Campbell radar (KHPX), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:00 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

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 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.