Hello everyone and Happy Mother’s Day! This has been one wicked weather weekend across the state. From deadly tornadoes to devastating floods… our Mother’s Day Weekend 2009 will be one that lives on in weather infamy.
The tornado that ripped through Madison County Friday afternoon is now official and it was a killer. Here are the findings from the NWS survey team…
…HIGH END EF-2/LOW END EF-3 TORNADO TRACKED THROUGH EASTERN
GARRARD AND MADISON COUNTIES…
A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY TEAM IS CURRENTLY
INVESTIGATING STORM DAMAGE IN MADISON AND EASTERN GARRARD COUNTIES.
THE SURVEY TEAM HAS FOUND DAMAGE CONFIRMING AN UPPER EF-2 TO LOWER
EF-3 INTENSITY TORNADO.
THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN IN EASTERN GARRARD COUNTY IN THE NINA
RIDGE ROAD AREA…WHERE IT CAUSED SOME EF-1 DAMAGE…AND REACHED
UPPER EF-2 INTENSITY BEFORE CROSSING INTO MADISON COUNTY.
NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 1295 AND 52 IN MADISON COUNTY…
THE TORNADO REACHED UPPER END EF-2 TO LOWER END EF-3 INTENSITY. NEAR
THIS INTERSECTION…TWO ADULTS WERE KILLED WHEN THE MOBILE HOME THEY
WERE IN WAS PICKED UP AND THROWN BY THE TORNADO. THE BODIES OF A 35
YEAR OLD MALE AND AN ADULT FEMALE WERE RECOVERED FROM A NEARBY POND.
FIVE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF THE MOBILE HOME…INCLUDING THREE CHILDREN
…WERE INJURED. OF THESE…AN ADULT FEMALE HAS BEEN PARALYZED FROM
THE NECK DOWN…AND A FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD SUFFERED A FRACTURED SKULL
AND A BROKEN LEG.
THE TORNADO FOLLOWED AN INTERMITTENT PATH TO THE SOUTH OF RICHMOND
…THROUGH THE WACO AREA…AND CONTINUED INTO ESTILL COUNTY. THE
SURVEY TEAM IS STILL INVESTIGATING THESE AREAS…AND WE WILL PROVIDE
MORE DETAILS AS THE TEAM REPORTS TO THE FORECAST OFFICE IN
LOUISVILLE.
DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE GARRARD AND MADISON COUNTY TORNADO IS
BELOW.
BEGIN TIME: APPROXIMATELY 504 PM EDT.
END TIME: AFTER 516 PM EDT
LOCATION BEGIN: IN THE NINA RIDGE ROAD AREA OF
EASTERN GARRARD COUNTY.
LOCATION END: INTERMITTENT PATH THROUGH MADISON COUNTY
SOUTH OF RICHMOND…THROUGH WACO…AND INTO
ESTILL COUNTY.
EF-SCALE RATING: UPPER END EF-2 TO LOWER END EF-3.
ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS: UP TO 140 MPH
PATH LENGTH: TO BE DETERMINED
PATH WIDTH: UP TO 150 YARDS
INJURIES: 12 TO 20…TO BE DETERMINED
FATALITIES: 2
This is only the second deadly tornado on record for Madison county with the other hitting during the famed Super Outbreak of 1974. That storm was an F4 that killed 7 people. This was also the first tornado to hit the county since 2003 when an F1 tornado hit the Happy Landing area on May 11th.
The major flooding across southern and eastern Kentucky was the other big ticket weather item of the weekend. Rains of 3″-6″ fell in some areas in just a few hours time span. Just incredible scenes coming from the hardest hit areas. I have received many, many pics that look a lot like this one from Floyd County…
How do we look over the next week? Here is a little headline look ahead…
1. Today won’t be too shabby for all the moms. Highs will struggle to get out of the 60s but it should be dry.
2. Monday will see some rain returning as a weak little system crosses the area. The best chance for rain will be in the areas that DO NOT need it… the south. Right now… it looks like the showers and thundershowers will be quick movers.
3. Temps through Monday will be cooler than normal.
4. Tuesday looks to be the best day of the week with temps in the 70s under partly sunny skies.
5. A strong cold front will approach us from the northwest later Wednesday into Thursday and this may produce locally heavy rains and maybe some strong storms. Gotta watch this one.
Have a great Sunday and Happy Mother’s Day to all our weather loving Moms out there!
Take care.
Those photos tell the horrible story. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you affected by Mother Nature’s wrath. It’s so sad and it doesn’t spare anybody in its path. Everything can be quiet and normal one minute, and then everything is suddenly destroyed.
A friend lives in Carbondale, Illinois. She spent three hours in a basement watching a “landcane” pass over her town. She said it had an eye that made everything still and quiet for about 15 minutes, then the 106 mph winds started up again. Can anybody explain how that happened? I’ve never heard of a landcane.
Happy Mother’s Day. Let’s hope we get some quiet weather this week.
I’m officially married now & the wedding went just fine! We didn’t get to have it outside, but we had it in my husband’s cousin’s house and it was beautiful! Even though it had stopped raining, it was so wet outside I figured my dress had a good chance of getting muddy.
I’m so thankful that we didn’t have any horrible storms like others have experienced in the past few days. I’m in Richmond quite often and lived there for a couple of years. It’s scary to see the damage. My heart goes out to the family who has experienced such tremendous heartache. I also hope that the waters recede soon so people can begin to recover. Clay County usually floods easily, so I think we must have missed the heaviest portion of the rain. Most of the county appears ok, but the northern part still has a flood warning.
Hopefully everything will begin to clear and we can thank all our mothers for being the wonderful moms that they are! Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!
Congrats on your wedding Tab! Also happy mothers day to all you mothers out there!
For you guys in the weather know, anyone else think the 12z GFS looks absolutely out to lunch past hour 120?
sorry everyone i haven’t been on lately…
power has been out. well, here in mcandrews in pike co. we had a flash flood go right through the road. bridges fell, roads broke, and a few houses went into the creek. schools closed here tomorrow. heard at belfry middle and johnscreek elem. there would not be school for the rest of the year. i’ll send pics to chris.
Understandable nobody can enjoy this type of rains and will reap no benefits from it
Good Mother’s Day evening to all. I hope all the mothers had a good day. I am sure that some of you who are dealing with flood damage, and tornado damage have not had the best of days.
We wound up with a pretty good day here today. It was sunny and about 70 degrees. Now it is cloudy, and the radar is showing rain again…. 🙁
Chris, are we ever gonna get out of this wet pattern? Even for a few days?
I have figured out the cooler temps though…on our way home from church tonight, I saw blackberries blooming. We usually get a couple of cooler days when they bloom…..
Well, it is almost tme to get ready for work tomorrow…..already! where do the weekends go so quickly? Seems like you blink your eyes and they are gone! Oh well, a couple of weeks and most of us will get a long weekend!
Everyone have a good night, and a good Monday. All of you flood and storm victims are in my prayers. Waiting for the next update, Chris. Hope it comes soon.
sorry chris… pics won’t upload.
From Russia with love)