NWS Paducah confirms EF-1 tornado early Saturday morning in Todd County
TODD COUNTY, Ky. (WNKY) — A brief EF-1 tornado touched down early Saturday in southern Todd County, the National Weather Service in Paducah confirmed after conducting a storm survey. The tornado formed along a broken line of showers around 12:38 a.m., producing estimated peak winds of 98 mph as it tracked 1.6 miles with a maximum width of 75 yards before lifting around 12:41 a.m.
Surveyors found the tornado first snapped several treetops north of Guthrie before crossing open farmland, where it flipped a center-pivot irrigation system and destroyed a small shed.
Preliminary Damage Survey, NWS Paducah
According to media partner WEKT, Todd County Emergency Management Director Ash Groves, who assisted with the assessment, said about 10 electrical poles were also snapped, contributing to widespread outages in the Pinchem area and near JoAnn’s Flowers. As a result, JoAnn’s flowers scheduled Christmas Open House has been cancelled for Saturday.
Nearly 600 residents lost electricity, and crews with Pennyrile Electric spent much of Saturday working to restore service and clear debris.
No injuries or deaths were reported. The NWS notes all findings are preliminary pending and subject to change pending final review and publication into official NWS Storm Data.
