June Tornado Climatology

With all of the severe weather talk we have been doing over the past few days, tornadoes might be pretty fresh on your mind. So what is our tornado risk here in Kentucky during this part of the year?

June is usually the transition period out of “tornado season” for us. Tornadoes can occur here during any month if the pattern is right, but typically we see the most tornadoes during the months of April, May and June. After June, there is a sharp cutoff to less tornadoes during July and August as typically the pattern becomes more stagnant and the jet stream is not as active.

Pictured above is a map from the National Weather Service in Louisville which shows the amount of tornado days they have in their forecast area per month, and you can see June has definitely produced quite a few tornadoes across central Kentucky and southern Indiana.

Here are some of the tornadoes (and their strength) reported in Warren and Edmonson counties during June:

Our most recent June tornado was on June 11, 2009. This tornado was relatively weak but skipped along the ground for nearly 18 miles causing tree and roof damage across the northern part of Warren County.

This data was compiled from the Tornado Climatology Database on NWS Louisville’s website.