Tornado briefly touched down in Eastern Kentucky, weather service says
A tornado briefly touched down in Magoffin County Tuesday, weather officials said.
The election night tornado reached the ground close to Board Tree Road near the communities of Hendricks and Foraker, the National Weather Service in Jackson said in an online post. On the day of the storm, radar indicated a “tornado debris signature” at 4:47 p.m.
The tornado’s estimated sustained wind speed topped out at 100 miles per hour and traveled for a little over a half mile, according to a statement from the weather service released Thursday morning. The twister landed on a hillside, crossed Board Tree Road and continued along a hollow before it eventually dissipated.
The weather service’s survey team found damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado. An EF-1 tornado has sustained winds between 86 and 110 miles per hour.
Some nearby barns sustained roof damage, the weather service’s statement said. Multiple trees were also snapped and uprooted. No injuries were reported.
Survey teams also searched an area spanning from northwestern Estill County eastward to near Natural Bridge State Park in Powell County. No visible damage was found during that search but “a number of residents gave accounts of a funnel cloud,” the weather service said.
The same storm system dropped an EF-1 tornado in southwestern Virginia less than hour after the Magoffin County tornado, WYMT reported.
This story was originally published May 18, 2023 at 10:15 AM.