Tornado Climatology of Shelby County

March 27, 1890
Counties:  Shelby, Henry
F-scale:  F3
Deaths: 3
Injuries:  10
Path width:  150 yards
Path length:  5 miles
Time:  8:15pm
Narrative:  Moved northeast from four miles south of Eminence, passing one mile north of Pleasureville.  Four farm houses were destroyed, and three members of a family were killed in one of them.

February 20, 1951
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F2
Deaths: 
Injuries:  
Path width:  70 yards
Path length:
Time:  6:00pm
Noted discrepancies:  SPC and NCDC call this an F2, Grazulis does not list it.  SPC gives a path length of 1/10 of a mile, NCDC provides no length.  SPC gives a path width of 70 yards, NCDC provides no width.

March 25, 1964
Counties:  Jefferson KY, Shelby, Oldham, Henry
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:  0
Injuries: 1
Path width:  30 yards
Path length: 
Time:  7:00pm
Grazulis narrative:  Skipped east-northeast from just east of Standiford Field to Smithfield and New Castle.  The "bounding" tornado, and accompanying high winds, unroofed or damaged four homes, 31 barns, and fifty other buildings.
Jefferson County:  The Jefferson County portion of the track was well-covered in the local newspapers.  The tornado touched down on the east side of Louisville International Airport at the intersection of Standiford Lane and Preston Highway, where it lifted and blew a car 40 feet, depositing it on its roof.  The tornado grew to about two blocks wide and tore the roof off of a home at 4503 Zeta Court, dropping it in the back yard.  Also on Zeta Court a car was flipped over.  At about the same time a truck was flipped over at 2420 Cavelle Avenue.   The tornado may have weakened or lifted slightly as the storm moved through Watterson Park and West Buechel.  Damage then occurred again when a frame home's garage was torn from its foundation at 2835 Klondike Lane and was thrown 100 feet into the side of Saint Martha Catholic Church.  On Dale Ann Drive a playhouse weighing 1500 pounds was blown 200 feet.  After causing comparatively little damage in Houston Acres, the tornado strengthened again and grew to a width of about three blocks.  On Cardwell Way a carport collapsed, three homes were damaged, and a car was demolished.  Meanwhile, siding was removed from a home at 58 Hallsdale Drive and a garage was destroyed next door at 60 Hallsdale Drive.  The tornado may have again weakened or lifted as the storm crossed Blue Ridge Manor and Anchorage.  The last damage report in Jefferson County was on Collins Lane where homes and commercial buildings were damaged, and roofs were removed from barns.  The head of the weather service office in Louisville, O. K. Anderson, surveyed the damage and said there was no doubt in his mind that it was a small, bounding tornado. Click here for a map of the Jefferson County portion of this tornado track.  Louisville newspapers did not mention any damage in Oldham or Shelby Counties.  There was mention of tornado damage in Smithfield and just outside New Castle in Henry County.
Noted discrepancies:  Grazulis does not include Shelby County.  NCDC does not list Oldham County or Henry County, and lists Jefferson County twice.  Storm Data lists only Jefferson and Henry counties.  SPC, Storm Data, and NCDC give a time of 7:00pm, Grazulis give 7:25pm.  SPC gives and endpoint lat/lon of 28.50/-85.12...NCDC give 38.22/-85.45.  SPC, Storm Data, and NCDC list one injury...Grazulis lists none.  SPC gives a path length of 38 miles, NCDC gives 33 miles, Storm Data says 40 miles, Grazulis lists a skipping path of 23 miles.  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards, NCDC 30 yards, Grazulis 40 yards.   The second of the two Jefferson County entries at NCDC lists the touchdown point with the exact same lat/lon as the liftoff point in the first Jefferson County entry.  Grazulis does mention that the tornado skipped.  The NCDC touchdown lat/lon in Shelby County is not the same as the liftoff lat/lon in Jefferson County, though it ought to be if the tornado went directly from Jefferson County into Shelby County as one coherent tornado, so perhaps at the NCDC website the Shelby County event is a separate tornado, and is also a separate tornado according to Grazulis who perhaps felt it was not F2 and thus omitted it...?  Grazulis takes the twister from Jefferson County into Oldham County (instead of Shelby County) and on into Henry County (agreeing with SPC's database).  The touchdown and liftoff lat/lon given by SPC/NCDC agree perfectly with Grazulis.  Using the touchdown and liftoff lat/lons at SPC, this tornado would have missed Shelby County.  The end lat/lon given by NCDC for Shelby County is actually located in Henry County.  Storm Data narrative says, "A small tornado of the bounding type moved in a straight line west-southwest to east-northeast from about half a mile east of Standiford Field...to approximately ten miles northeast.  Apparently the same tornado continued northeastward into Henry County.  It touched down several times in Jefferson County, and in Henry County...in the vicinities of Smithfield and New Castle."  More research is necessary.

July 18, 1971
Counties:  Henry, Shelby
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  2:15pm
Grazulis narrative:  In the Pleasureville-Defoe area a tornado destroyed three barns and a silo.
Noted discrepancies:  NCDC and Grazulis only list Henry County.  The single lat/lon SPC gives is indeed in Shelby County, but very close to the county line.  SPC gives a path length of 1/10 of a mile and a path width of 10 yards...NCDC and Grazulis give nothing for either.  Both places of damage listed by Grazulis are on the Henry/Shelby county line.  Using damage locations listed by Grazulis the path length might have been longer than the 1/10 mile given by SPC.  Storm Data says the tornado touched down between Pleasureville and Defoe and almost immediately lifted back into the clouds.  Storm Data lists both Shelby and Henry counties.

June 27, 1973
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  1:00pm
Noted discrepancies:  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards, NCDC 30 yards.  The lat/lon given at SPC and NCDC for this tornado is in Nicholas County.  Storm Data lists it in Shelby County.  If the longitude is changed from SPC/NCDC's -84.08 to -85.08, it's in Shelby County.  More research would be nice.

June 29, 1979
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  5:35pm
Notes:  Storm Data has this tornado touch down at Finchville and end near Bagdad.

March 20, 1982
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:
Injuries:  8
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  6:50pm
Noted discrepancies:  NWS ranks this as an F2...Grazulis does not list it.
Notes:  Storm Data says this tornado touched down near where I-64 crosses the Jefferson/Shelby county line, moving on to the Governor's Manor Shopping Center in Shelbyville.  Will plot as such.

March 20, 1982
Counties:  Shelby, Franklin
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  200 yards
Path length:  20 miles
Time:  7:00pm
Grazulis narrative:  Moved east-northeast from Southville to east of Waddy.  A dozen barns, two trailers, and several other buildings were destroyed in the Southville area.  Homes were struck in Waddy.
Noted discrepancies:  Grazulis ends this tornado just inside the Franklin County line, but SPC and NCDC take it all the way to Frankfort.  Storm Data has this tornado hit Southville,  KY 714, and Waddy.  Will plot with official lat/lon but additional research would be nice.

June 10, 1985
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F0
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  Midnight
Notes:  Storm Data begins this tornado on the west side of Simpsonville.

June 12, 1989
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  1:17pm
Noted discrepancies:  None

June 2, 1990
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  100 yards
Path length:  1 mile
Time:  11:14pm
Grazulis narrative:  Sixteen homes and 12 barns were damaged along the north edge of Shelbyville.
Noted discrepancies:  Grazulis lists this at 12:14am June 3.

June 18, 1992
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  3:00pm
Noted discrepancies:  SPC gives a time of 3:00pm, NCDC 2:00pm, Storm Data 4:00pm.
Notes:  Storm Data says this tornado touched down east of Christianburg on Christianburg-Bagdad Road, damaging Christianburg Baptist Church.

June 14, 1993
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F0
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  3:55pm
Noted discrepancies:  Not listed at NCDC.

April 2, 2006
Counties:  Shelby
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  150 yards
Path length:  2 miles
Time:  10:15pm
Notes:  Tree damage and other debris.

February 6, 2008
Counties:  Shelby
EF-scale:  EF2
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  250 yards
Path length:  7 miles
Time:  12:46am EST to 12:52am EST
Notes: Most of the damage caused by this tornado was concentrated in the Flood Road area, as it intensified while moving to the northeast.  The tornado destroyed a large well-built barn and threw the structure 50 yards.  It moved an 18,000 pound trailer four feet, and flipped it.  Another barn was destroyed, and every shingle was blown off a well constructed roof.  Several other homes suffered some degree of roof damage.  Besides the structural damage, about 40 large hardwood trees were uprooted along the path.

February 6, 2008
Counties:  Shelby
EF-scale:  EF0
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  1
Path width:  125 yards
Path length:  0.4 miles
Time:  12:52am EST to 12:54am EST
Notes: A large barn was destroyed.  Sheet metal from the barn was thrown over 300 yards, and some metal from the barn was 50 yards to the west.

March 23, 2012
County:  Shelby
EF-Scale:  EF-1
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  50 yards
Path length:  2.25 miles
Time:  2:28pm EDT
Notes:  The tornado traveled mainly over plowed fields, but was witnessed by at least three people and did do some damage to farms.  Two barns were destroyed, two barns suffered significant roof and structural damage, and about two dozen trees were snapped or uprooted.