Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2025
EF0 tornado, Calloway County, Kentucky, April 3, 2025
This EF0 tornado ran 8.9 miles across Calloway County on April 3, 2025, touching down at 10:23 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- April 3, 2025
- Touchdown
- 10:23 PM CDT (03:23 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:31 PM CDT (03:31 UTC)
- On the ground
- 8 minutes
- Path length
- 8.9 miles (14.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $40,000
- County
- Calloway County
- Touchdown point
- 36.614, -88.281
- Lift-off point
- 36.600, -88.130
- Record number
- 2504032123-01
The damage survey
35 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MEG and NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.
- Center pivot irrigation system overturned.
- Overturned center pivot irrigation system.
- Church with minor roof damage.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:03 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | PAH |
| 03:43 UTC | 09:45 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | PAH |
| 04:39 UTC | 05:01 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH |
| 15:17 UTC | 12:52 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | PAH |
| 20:02 UTC | 02:41 UTC | Tornado Watch | PAH |
| 20:14 UTC | 20:34 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH |
| 20:15 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH |
| 20:39 UTC | 20:56 UTC | Tornado Warning | PAH |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:46 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 radar
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:23 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:23 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ene Murray | Calloway, KY | An EF-0 tornado began east of Murray along Highway 94, where it damaged the roof of a commercial building and a nearby church. The tornado continued eastward along Pottertown Road and through the Pottertown community, wh |
| 03:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ene Murray | Calloway, KY | Trees down on Hwy 280 near Calloway County East Elementary School. |
| 04:10 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 1 S Folsomdale | Graves, KY | Flooding on 45 North and several other locations throughout the county. |
| 04:52 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ssw Cadiz | Trigg, KY | Late report. Barn and greenhouse damage. Trees also uprooted. Time estimated from radar. |
| 04:58 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Mayfield | Graves, KY | Flash flooding in and around Mayfield, KY. Report received via social media. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 3, 2025
7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 3 | 1:04 AM CDT | EF2 | Barren, KY | 4.9 | 400 | 1 | ||
| April 3 | 1:13 AM CDT | EF3 | Marshall, MS to TN | 39.5 | 1,200 | 2 | 3 | $4.8 million |
| April 3 | 2:29 AM EDT | EF1 | Taylor, KY | 7.0 | 125 | 2 | ||
| April 3 | 3:07 AM EDT | EF1 | Lincoln, KY | 8.7 | 90 | |||
| April 3 | 9:36 AM CDT | EF1 | Wilson, TN | 11.5 | 300 | $250,000 | ||
| April 3 | 4:38 PM CDT | EF1 | Alcorn, MS to AL, TN | 28.0 | 425 | $930,000 | ||
| April 3 | 5:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Lawrence, TN | 0.1 | 25 |
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.