EF1 tornado, Casey and Lincoln counties, Kentucky, July 21, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

July 21, 2026

Touchdown

5:37 PM EDT (21:37 UTC)

Lifted

5:39 PM EDT (21:39 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.2 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

220 yards (201 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Casey and Lincoln counties

Touchdown point

37.469, -84.869

Lift-off point

37.476, -84.848

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LMK

The office's name for it

Casey/Lincoln County

Survey last edited

July 23, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The National Weather Service confirmed a brief EF-1 tornado touchdown in northeast Casey County and northwest Lincoln County, Kentucky. A briefly tornadic storm first produced a tornado in far northeastern Casey County along Kentucky Highway 78 just north of the intersection with Kentucky Highway 906 around 5:37 PM EDT. Several large tree trunks were snapped near the intersection of a home on a hillside next to an open field. Estimated wind speeds from the tree damage were observed at 95 mph which is EF-1 damage.

The tornado continued moving NE parallel to Kentucky Highway 78 and damaged a barn just downstream of the hillside home that was also in the middle of an open field. The north-facing roof slope had large sections of roofing ripped off, with estimated tornado wind speeds around 95 mph as well. Then, the tornado continued moving NE snapping large trunks and tree limbs on the southern facing side of a small forest next to the open field. The tornado here slightly increased in strength, with estimated winds here near 100 mph, or high-end EF-1 damage.

Beyond the barn, the tornado continued its track NE through the open field with scattered tree cover. It began weakening as it moved towards Black Pike in far western Lincoln County west of Hustonville. At 5:39 PM EDT, power poles were snapped along with additional large tree limbs snapped with estimated winds of 85 mph, or a high end EF-0. Shortly after, the tornado lifted and no other tornadic damage was observed.

The National Weather Service would like to thank the Casey Emergency Management teams for assistance with this damage survey.

Written by NWS LMK in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

7 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.

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

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:22 UTC and running to 00:11 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:37 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 2026 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

35 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.