EF1 tornado, Burdick to Atchison, Kentucky, April 3, 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 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 3, 2025

Touchdown

2:29 AM EDT (06:29 UTC)

Lifted

2:35 AM EDT (06:35 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

7.0 miles (11.2 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

County

Taylor County

Touchdown point

37.251, -85.390

Lift-off point

37.297, -85.284

Record number

2504030029-01

23 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 110 mph.

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 storm damage team surveyed EF1 tornado damage with a max wind speed around 110 mph and a max width of 125 yards in Taylor County Kentucky. The tornado touched down southwest of Burdick along Milder Creek Road and Lemon Bend Road where cedar tree damage occurred. The tornado then continued between Joe Kerr Road and Gilpin Road, twisting trees and damaging a roof structure. The tornado then continued to Joe Kerr Road and Milder Creek Road, where it took a roof off a garage barn and did|damage to several trees. ||The tornado continued across KY Highway 55 and did tree damage along Lone Valley Road with several trees uprooted and large branches damaged. Damage continued to be observed to the northeast along Strawberry Farm Road where several trees were snapped for a max width of 125 yards. Nearby Tuckers Tiki Bar and Restaurant had significant roof damage where an estimated peak wind speed of 110 mph occurred with this tornado. ||The tornado moved to the east where tree damage occurred along State Park Road in Green River Lake State Park. The tornado continued skipping across mainly rural areas of Green River Lake State Park before significant damage occurred on County Park Road |in Taylor County Park, where several trees had been topped off or snapped. The tornado lifted after doing more tree damage at the end of Capps Road, just before going back over Green River Lake.

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

27 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:02 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:39 UTC and running to 10:36 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:39 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.

Taylor County (AAS), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:31 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

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.