National Weather Service Raw Text Product

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Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Louisville, KY
218 PM EST Fri Dec 17 2021 /118 PM CST Fri Dec 17 2021/

...NWS Damage Survey for 12/11/21 Tornado Event...

.Update...This is an update to a Public Information Statement  
that originally had this tornado track only in Logan County. 
Additional surveying has revealed that the track actually extended
slightly into far western Warren County. 

.Logan-Western Warren County Kentucky Tornado...

Rating:                 EF-3
Estimated Peak Wind:    140 mph
Path Length /statute/:  28 miles
Path Width /maximum/:   1400 yards
Fatalities:             0
Injuries:               1

Start Date:             12/11/21
Start Time:             12:47am CST (1:47 am EST)
Start Location:         8 miles north of Olmstead
Start Lat/Lon:          36.859 -87.033

End Date:               12/11/21
End Time:               1:12am CST (2:12am EST)
End Location:           3 miles east southeast of Hadley
End Lat/Lon:            37.031 -86.574

Survey Summary: 

The supercell that had cycled down its tornado in eastern Todd 
County spun back up again soon after crossing the border into 
western Logan County. It quickly ramped up to EF-3 (140 mph) damage 
over a swath roughly three quarters of a mile wide along Milton 
Sharp Rd. On the southern side, a family was home when a 2 by 4 
narrowly missed the husband as the roof was being peeled off the 
middle of the house.  On the north side, a large dairy farm was 
completely destroyed. As the tornado continued north northeast, a 
wide swath of trees was snapped/uprooted along the edge of a 
forest on the southern edge of the vortex, while on the north 
edge, a well built home had its second floor two thirds thrown 
off. A male was in the other section when a 2 by 4 from the first 
floor came up and got lodged in his mattress. Another well built 
log cabin in this area lost its second floor roof. 

The tornado then turned more east northeast in the Buena Vista Rd 
area. A doublewide manufactured home was completely destroyed here 
along with several outbuildings on the property.  A male at the home 
received warning from family and heard the tornado approach, getting 
into a bath tub in the middle of the east side of the structure. 
After it hit, the home blew into a row of trees and the male 
remembers grabbing onto a tree southeast of his original location.
He sustained injuries as medics had to get wood out of his legs. 

The tornado continued over to Lakewood Ln where a boy was in the 
second story of house when the window imploded inward and moved 
the bed he was in. After this, the storm crossed US 431, impacting
several trees along Hwy 1040 with EF1 level winds. It then moved 
to a row of mobile homes along H.C. Johnson Rd. Two of these homes
were completed destroyed, with one blown into a row of trees 
south of its original point and another lifted up and over a tree 
just east of its original location. This may have been a 
mesovortex spinning around the main circulation. The tornado 
damage was widest at this location, roughly 0.8 mile. On the 
south side of the tornado, a mobile home was completely destroyed
along Hwy 915 where it was spread out over the road. The resident
was a female whose father insisted she stay the night at his 
place, with a basement, after hearing the messaging in the days 
before.

That same mesovortex may have been what caused the collapse of an 
electric transmission line just east of Marshall Rd where there 
was little damage to surrounding trees. Farther north on that 
road a well built brick home had its roof taken off as well as 
the carport removed. 

The tornado continued to track along Hwy 79 towards the Chandlers
Chapel area where the Methodist Church lost its steeple and had 
damage to several of the stained glass windows. A couple of homes 
had major damage here. A resident said he had at least 20 minutes
of lead time ahead of the touchdown. There was additional damage 
along Turner Road and then 3 Poplars Rd. This survey ended soon 
after 3 Poplars Rd.

Another survey was conducted in the far northeast corner of Logan
County where a couple of long chicken barns were leveled. Aerial
damage surveys also indicated a damage swath that extended into
western Warren County for a few miles.

We would like to thank the Logan County Emergency Management for 
coordinating  the areas hardest hit and escorting us through this 
long swath of damage. Also we'd like to thank the Civil Air
Patrol and Jason Harper for flying over the damage swath. Review
of those points after the ground survey were very useful. The 
people of Logan County who were hit by this tornado had good 
spirits and most of those we interviewed had received the warnings
by wireless emergency alerts or by friends and family calling 
them ahead of time.


&&

EF Scale: The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the
following categories:

EF0...Weak......65 to 85 mph
EF1...Weak......86 to 110 mph
EF2...Strong....111 to 135 mph
EF3...Strong....136 to 165 mph
EF4...Violent...166 to 200 mph
EF5...Violent...>200 mph

NOTE:
The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to
change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS
Storm Data.

For the latest updates, please visit our webpage at weather.gov/louisville.

You can follow us on Facebook at NWSLouisville.

You can follow us on Twitter at @NWSLouisville.

$$

SG/ALL/RJS/RAS