Damage from Southern Kentucky tornado is visible from space, NASA says
Destruction from the deadly tornado that hit Southern Kentucky on May 16 is visible from space.
The NASA Earth Observatory released photos showing the path of the tornado through the Daniel Boone National Forest between Somerset and London.
The tornado was rated as an EF-3, with wind speeds of 136 to 165 miles per hour, as it blew through the forest in eastern Pulaski County.
The path was nearly a mile wide, according to the National Weather Service.
It tore trees from the ground and stripped off branches and bark, leaving a scar that shows up as a brown streak through the forest from space, according to NASA.
The Landsat 9 satellite captured images of the scar while passing over the area on June 4, the first day since the tornado that was mostly cloud-free.
The satellite, a partnership of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, orbits the Earth at a height of 438 miles and circles the globe once every 99 minutes.
Researchers use photos from the program to track a wide variety of land uses and changes, from irrigation in U.S agriculture to deforestation in the Amazon.
The tornado damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses along a path more than 55 miles long in Russell, Pulaski and Laurel counties.
State officials said the tornado and other storms that hit Western Kentucky that day caused 20 deaths.
Of those, 17 were in Laurel County, where nine people died in one devastated subdivision. There was one victim each from McCracken, Russell and Pulaski counties.
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 8:49 AM.
