2021 Western Kentucky tornado
2021 tornado in Kentucky, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
During the late evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado moved across Western Kentucky, producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen.[2] Crossing through eleven counties of the Jackson Purchase and Western Coal Field regions during its almost three-hour lifespan, the tornado was exceptionally long-tracked, traveling 165.6 miles (266.5 km) while at times becoming wrapped in rain. It was the deadliest and longest-tracked tornado in an outbreak that produced numerous strong tornadoes in several states; 57 fatalities were confirmed in the tornado.[2] The second significant tornado in an exceedingly long-tracked tornado family, this tornado began just inside northern Obion County, Tennessee, a few miles after another long-tracked tornado – which traveled through northeast Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee – dissipated in western Obion County.[3]
Meteorological history | |
---|---|
Formed | December 10, 2021, 8:54 p.m. CST (UTC−06:00) |
Dissipated | December 10, 2021, 11:48 p.m. CST (UTC−06:00) |
Duration | 2 hours, 54 minutes |
EF4 tornado | |
on the Enhanced Fujita scale | |
Highest winds | 190 mph (310 km/h) |
Overall effects | |
Fatalities | 57 (+1 indirect)[1][2] |
Injuries | 519 |
Areas affected | Obion County, Tennessee and Western Kentucky, United States |
Part of the tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021 and tornado outbreaks of 2021 |
Early estimates suggested that the tornado family—identified by some media outlets as a "Quad-State tornado", due to the storm's long track and similarity to the 219-mile (352 km) Tri-State tornado of 1925—might have cut a path of up to 250 miles (400 km) across the affected areas, making it the longest-tracked tornado in history.[4][5][6] However, storm surveys found that the majority of the storm's path consisted of two distinct EF4 tornadoes, with three short-lived and weak tornadoes in between them in northwestern Obion County, Tennessee. The parent supercell that produced the two EF4 tornadoes, and eleven tornadoes in total, later became known as the "Quad-State supercell".