EF1 tornado, Burgin, Kentucky, May 30, 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

May 30, 2025

Touchdown

7:22 AM EDT (11:22 UTC)

Lifted

7:25 AM EDT (11:25 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mercer County

Touchdown point

37.774, -84.766

Lift-off point

37.780, -84.740

Record number

2505300522-01

11 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 100 mph.

• Could be seen north of White Road.

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

During the morning hours on May 30th, an upper-level shortwave trough and an associated surface low pressure system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. The surface low center tracked across central Kentucky, roughly paralleling the Western Kentucky and Bluegrass Parkways. As the low moved across the area, showers and thunderstorms developed as moisture increased from the south ahead of the center of the low. Within the warm sector of the disturbance, around 500 J/kg of mixed-layer CAPE was present, which was sufficient for modest convective development. Wind shear and helicity values were quite strong, and were enhanced by a warm front which extended to the northeast of the center of the surface low.||While most convection with this system was sub-severe, one cell became attached to the warm front, using the enhanced wind shear and helicity in the front's vicinity to develop strong rotation aloft. While initially this cell produced non-tornadic wind damage, it ultimately produced an EF2 tornado which tracked across Washington and Boyle County before lifting. A separate EF1 tornado was produced by the same cell a few minutes later over Mercer County near Burgin. Convection would then weaken as it continued eastward, with the system exiting the area later in the morning on the 30th.

The National Weather Service completed a storm survey and|determined that an EF1, 100 mph tornado occurred just north of|Burgin in Mercer County Friday morning, May 30th, 2025. Damage was first|observed along Handy Lane where several trees had been topped. The damage continued along Handy Lane where a|house had some outbuilding damage and a garage door was blown in.| Some healthy trees also had extensive very large branches|snapped. Maximum wind speeds along Handy Lane were estimated to|be at 100 mph, EF1 strength.||The tornado continued across Shakertown Road and damage |was observed along Ison Lane where trees were uprooted and a barn |roof was blown off. The tornado continued across farmland before |additional damage was observed to trees with large branches |snapped along Hogue Lane. Estimated maximum wind speeds along |this portion was EF1, 95 mph strength. No additional damage was |observed beyond Hogue Lane.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:21 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:36 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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.

Danville (DVK), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:23 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.

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

4 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.