Anniversary of the Jan 29th-30th, 2013 Tornado Outbreak

During the late night/predawn hours of January 29-30th, 2013, a stout squall line surged northeast across the region.  This  feature produced seven tornadoes across southern Indiana & central Kentucky.

Two of those tornadoes struck close to Bowling Green.  An EF-2 tornado was confirmed near Smith’s Grove, which is located  ~15miles to the northeast of Bowling Green.  This twister’s path width was 3.3 miles, and reached a maximum width of 250 yards.

Several grain bins, along with a barn were destroyed, and a semi-truck was flipped on I-65.  Follow this link for an in-depth analysis of this event.  Below are a few photos from the damage, taken by Ryan Fazel:

Shortly before the EF-2 tornado struck Smith’s Grove, a separate EF-2 tornado impacted the Penrod area in southeast Muhlenberg County.  I made the trip out and surveyed the damage the day following.  Check out this image create by the Paducah NWS for a better idea of how this event unfolded.  Here is a collage of the damage I documented in Penrod.  Several mobile homes were destroyed, along with damage to a large shop and numerous trees:

We were very fortunate to not suffer any injuries or fatalities from either of these events.  Lead time warnings helped, however, the late night timing of this event means we had luck on our side, as most people were sleeping.  Several other damage reports tracked in from across the state that night.  Take a look at this link from the Paducah NWS to see a list of other damage reports from the western tier of the Bluegrass State that also took place that night.