Charleston, WV

Weather Forecast Office

Eastern Kentucky Tornado June 9th, 2013

June 9^th 2013 Tornado Path near Lowmansville, KY

On June 9^th 2013 thunderstorms moved across eastern Kentucky behind a synoptic scale stationary front that extended from Illinois through Ohio and into West Virginia. There was a less definable mesoscale warm front that extended from northern Kentucky through southern West Virginia, creating increased convergence and instability in eastern Kentucky. The tornado was on the ground for approximately .5mi before it lifted and the supercell moved left, occluded and gusted out, which resulted in thunderstorm wind damagenear Ulysses, KY.

With convergence at the surface (above) and divergent 40kt-50kt flow at 250mb (image below) the increased potential for some isolated severe thunderstorms evolved throughout the day.

Although eastern Kentucky became increasingly more unstable as the day progressed, conditions were not ideal for tornadogenesis. In fact, as of 4pm EDT, The Storm Prediction Center had Lowmansville, KY outside the Slight Risk area for tornadoes, severe wind or hail.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2013/day1otlk_20130610_2000.html

By 4:32pm EDT thunderstorms had become intense enough for our neighbors at the Jackson, KY WFO to issue a Severe Thunderstorm Warning:

537
WUUS53 KJKL 092032
SVRJKL   
KYC063-115-153-175-092115-   
/O.NEW.KJKL.SV.W.0041.130609T2032Z-130609T2115Z/
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING   
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY   
432 PM EDT SUN JUN 9 2013     


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON KY HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...   
  EASTERN ELLIOTT COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY...   
  JOHNSON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...   
  NORTHERN MAGOFFIN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST KENTUCKY...   
  EASTERN MORGAN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST KENTUCKY...     

* UNTIL 515 PM EDT     

* AT 430 PM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR HOLLIDAY...   
  AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.     

  HAZARD...QUARTER SIZE HAIL AND 60 MPH WIND GUSTS.  
   
  SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED.     

  IMPACT...HAIL DAMAGE TO VEHICLES AND CROPS IS EXPECTED. EXPECT WIND   
  DAMAGE TO ROOFS...SIDING AND TREES.     

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...   
  SALYERSVILLE...PAINTSVILLE...GORDON FORD...PATTON...WILLIAMS...
  WHITE OAK...GULLETT...WONNIE...ELSIE...COTTLE...GIFFORD...LICK   
  BRANCH...BLOOMINGTON...MATTHEW...FLORRESS...CISCO...LENOX...   
  LICKSBURG...MAGGARD AND ORIENT.

Due to the storms crossing the boundary between the Jackson, KY WFO and our WFO in Charleston, WV we issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at 5:13pm:

944
WUUS51 KRLX 092113   
SVRRLX   
KYC127-WVC059-099-092215-   

/O.NEW.KRLX.SV.W.0015.130609T2113Z-130609T2215Z/     
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED   
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING   
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV   
513 PM EDT SUN JUN 9 2013     

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A     

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...   
  SOUTHERN LAWRENCE COUNTY IN KENTUCKY...   
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF LOUISA...   
  NORTHWESTERN MINGO COUNTY IN WEST VIRGINIA...   
  SOUTHERN WAYNE COUNTY IN WEST VIRGINIA...     

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT     

* AT 510 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A   
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL...   
  AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED 16   
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF CHARLEY...OR 7 MILES WEST OF PAINTSVILLE...   
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.     

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO   
  DUNLOW...ULYSSES AND FORT GAY.     

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...     
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS AND LARGE   
DAMAGING HAIL. SEEK SHELTER NOW INSIDE A STURDY STRUCTURE AND STAY   
AWAY FROM WINDOWS!     

VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO FALL FROM THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...AND   
WILL CAUSE WATER TO POND ON ROADS AND QUICKLY FILL ROADSIDE DITCHES   
AND SMALL STREAMS.     

PLEASE REPORT HAIL OR STRONG WIND TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY   
CALLING TOLL FREE...800-401-9535...WHEN YOU CAN DO SO SAFELY.     
YOU MAY ALSO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER BY POSTING YOUR REPORT TO THE   
CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FACEBOOK PAGE...OR   
BY USING THE TWITTER HASHTAG...NWSRLX.

The image below depicts the coverage of our warnings for the areas affected through 6:15pm, with the tornado touching down at 5:55pm along the Johnson County/Lawrence County line:

Below is an image showing the base reflectivity and base velocity at 5:57pm with from the Charleston, WV WSR-88D with the location of the tornado highlighted:

Below is the PNS we sent out on June 10^th 2013 detailing our survey:

NOUS41 KRLX 101655

PNSRLX

KYZ101>103-105-OHZ087-WVZ005-006-102100-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV

1255 PM EDT MON JUN 10 2013

...TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR LOWMANSVILLE IN LAWRENCE COUNTY

KENTUCKY...

LOCATION...LOWMANSVILLE IN LAWRENCE COUNTY KENTUCKY

DATE...JUNE 09 2013

ESTIMATED TIME...5:55PM EDT

MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF0

ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...75MPH

MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50YDS

PATH LENGTH...1/2 MI

BEGINNING LAT/LON...37.91N/ -82.72

ENDING LAT/LON...37.93N /-82.70

* FATALITIES...0

* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO

CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN

NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON WV HAS CONFIRMED A

TORNADO NEAR LOWMANSVILLE IN LAWRENCE COUNTY KENTUCKY ON

JUNE 09 2013.

PATH LENGTH WAS CONTINUOUS FOR 1/2 MILE WITH EVIDENCE OF NON-

CONTINUOUS DAMAGE FOR 2 MILES

THIS INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE AT

WEATHER.GOV/RLX.

FOR REFERENCE...THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES

INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

EF0...WIND SPEEDS 65 TO 85 MPH.

EF1...WIND SPEEDS 86 TO 110 MPH.

EF2...WIND SPEEDS 111 TO 135 MPH.

EF3...WIND SPEEDS 136 TO 165 MPH.

EF4...WIND SPEEDS 166 TO 200 MPH.

EF5...WIND SPEEDS GREATER THAN 200 MPH.

The details of this survey are only preliminary. Our colleagues in the Jackson, KY WFO will be further surveying a larger area in Johnson County, so the path of the tornado is subject to change.

Below are some pictures from the storm survey. The final determination for a weak EF-0 tornado was that leaves had been pushed up against all sides of the house in a similar fashion, meaning that a rotating column of air had moved across the house in a very short time period: