EF3 tornado, Jeffersontown to Boston, Kentucky, April 2, 2025

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 2, 2025

Touchdown

12:29 AM EDT (04:29 UTC)

Lifted

12:39 AM EDT (04:39 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

9.7 miles (15.6 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

38.186, -85.582

Lift-off point

38.248, -85.425

Record number

2504022229-01

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 EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 145 mph.

• Roof damage on Plantside drive and trees snapped in the area.
• CAD report, Caller said tree crashed through window as it came down.
• Holes in the roof with water pouring in. Structural damage to home.
• Tree down across roadway Brown Ct and Watterson Trail.

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

On the night of April 2nd, 2025, a cold front approached the lower Ohio Valley. Along and ahead of the cold front, numerous supercells developed over southern Illinois and western Kentucky. These storms tracked eastward and occasionally grew upscale into a QLCS with bowing segments. Storms lasted all night and into the morning hours, as the cold front began to stall over the lower Ohio Valley. These storms left behind a wake of damage in many counties in central Kentucky. Over the next few days, waves of showers and storms rode along the cold front bringing lots of rain which lead to widespread flash and areal flooding. Showers and storms came through daily, until the evening of April 6th. Later, this flooding turned into historic and near-record breaking river flooding along many river basins.||Overall, 6 tornadoes touched down from late evening into the overnight on April 2nd and 3rd, including one EF-3, one EF-2's, and four EF-1's. Many additional pockets of wind damage occurred, as well as widespread areal and flash flooding through late week into the weekend. Some river crests were historic, including a new record crest at Camp Nelson on the Kentucky River and the #2 all time crest at Frankfort. The crest at McAlpine Upper on the Ohio River was #8 all time.

A tornado touched down, beginning along Watterson Trail and Rivanna Dr, continuing into a heavily industrial section west of Blankenbaker Dr, crossing near the cloverleaf of I-265 and I-64, and then continuing into some residential areas along Beckley |Station Road, crossing Shelbyville Rd, and then lifting near Long Run Rd and Pope Dale Rd. It was on the ground for just under 10 miles and lasted 10 minutes. Its widest point is estimated at 350 yards and peak winds of 145 mph, or an EF3 tornado.||A few trees were uprooted as the tornado first touched down near Rivanna Dr. and Watterson Trail. It was mostly elevated as it continued to near the Jeffersontown municipal building, where it peeled back roofing on a metal warehouse and topped a few trees and one uprooted tree. The tornado moved east northeast peeling back the roof of a tall metal warehouse building just off Electron Dr. ||The tornado intensified along Ampere Court and Ampere Drive. The northeast side of a brick institutional building was completely blown out. Trees were uprooted and insulation was thrown in multiple directions. A large metal building had a failure of |X-braces in the lateral load resisting system. Metal pieces and insulation were thrown into trees and road signs. Immediately next-door, at KEP electric there was a complete destruction of another building, which had a brick bottom half and a metal top |half, and the metal and insulation was thrown in every direction, some of which traveled close to a mile. This was the strongest part of the tornado, and it only maintained this strength briefly. Tornado wind speeds were between 140 and 145 mph, EF3, with a width of 200 yards in this area. Some very subtle terrain is noted on topographic maps just west southwest of this area as well as a relative clearing of buildings, and these factors may briefly have influenced the strength of the tornado. ||A concrete warehouse building along Technology Drive had the walls blown down and roofing material lifted up and twisted in many directions. There was a collapse of pre-cast concrete tilt-up panels. There were several collapsed light poles as well. This |was the widest part of the tornado, an estimated 350 yards. At J & J, Transportation on Plantside Drive, a metal warehouse, had a failure of X-braces in the lateral load resisting system. Debris from the building was thrown at least a half a mile. At the Chick-fil-A across the street, bricks were peeled off the building, a large amount of roofing material was twisted and lifted. At 11900 Plantside Dr. (next door to Chick-fil-A) the metal roof of a brick building was peeled and thrown, and an extremely large air |conditioning unit was thrown off the roof to a distance of 75 yards, weighing several hundred pounds. Farther east on Plantside Drive behind the Interstate Battery building, at Creation Kingdom, a large section of the metal building was opened up, and metal support beams were twisted and bent. At Warren Technology at Campus Place, two brick walls were knocked out. The metal roof was peeled off, windows blown out, trees were uprooted, and many vehicles were moved and windows all blown out. Papa Johns |headquarters building had some windows blown out, and some HVAC units damaged on the roof, but overall the building fared very well. ||On Pope Lick Road, trees were twisted and topped, power poles were snapped. At Interstate 64 at English Station Road, signs were twisted and damaged and numerous trees were topped, twisted, and uprooted. The Stables Apartments had roof damage, |windows blown out, and car windows blown out. At Beckley Hills Drive at Beckley Hills Road, there were multiple homes with siding off, shingles off, blue tarps on roofs, gutter damage, and many missing shingles. There were several areas in Floyd s Fork Park |that had trees topped and uprooted. The last damage point was off of Flat Rock Road at 1710 Pope Dale Rd, where there were a few top trees and a couple of uprooted trees in a forested area.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:57 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:22 UTC and running to 04:39 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 00:55 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), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:31 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 2025 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

87 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 88 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.