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As a result of the severe thunderstorms that impacted the region on the night of April 25, 2015, the National Weather Service in Louisville, KY has confirmed an EF-2 tornado occurred in a small portion of Edmonson County. Some members of the Wx Or Not team were able to assist the National Weather Service with their survey.
NWS Louisville MIC John Gordon lead the storm survey, along with assistance from our own Landon Hampton and Edmonson County EM Director Pat Prunty. Myself, along with fellow contributor and WKU Meteorology student, Zack Leasor, rounded out the survey team.
The below image is a picture of a map in which the National Weather Service highlighted areas of interest in Edmonson County. This is based off of radar data, as well as local storm reports.
In a portion of the highlighted region is where the EF-2 tornado occurred. More specifically, the damage occurred along Grassland Road, southwest of Bee Spring, KY. Attached are some photos of the damage surveyed from the ground.
Fortunately all the damage associated with the tornado was limited to trees. It appeared that roughly two hundred trees were snapped or uprooted. According to John Gordon of the National Weather Service in Louisville, KY wind speeds would be estimated between 111 and 115 mph, making it a low-end EF-2 tornado.
Wx Or Not was able to assist the National Weather Service in determining the path of the tornado with the use of a drone. Below is a picture of the tornado’s path from the perspective of the drone.
Sporadic wind damage was also found scattered about the county. The image below is damage found to the southwest of the tornado damage. Wind speeds of 60 mph were estimated to cause this barn collapse.
Thankfully, this Edmonson County tornado was relatively short-lived. The width of the tornado was found to be 1/8th of a mile, with a length of 1/4 of a mile. I know a tornado is never good, but if one were to occur, this was about the best outcome. No structures were damaged, no campgrounds were affected, and no damage was reported at Mammoth Cave National Park.
For more information on this event, check out this article from the Edmonson County Voice. Click the following link for the official storm survey from NWS Louisville.