The Paducah, Kentucky, office of the National Weather Service has estimated peak wind speeds of 190 miles per hour in the severe weather system that tore across Kentucky on Dec. 10.
It has said it was a “high end” EF-4 tornado that was part of a 163-mile path of destruction. Tornadoes are rated a catastrophic EF-5 at winds speeds of 200 miles per hour.
“Due to the extensive nature of this long track tornado, it has taken several days as well as many teams of meteorologists and independent engineers to survey the track,” the NWS reported.
This portion of the damage surveys included an estimated path of 128 miles through sections of Kentucky, according to information released Wednesday.
The total number of fatalities and injuries remains unknown, almost a week after the disaster.
“Preliminary surveys suggest this tornado began in northeast Arkansas, crossing the Missouri Bootheel, northwest Tennessee, and across western Kentucky, resulting in significant destruction to portions of the region,” the NWS has shared. “Preliminary findings indicate high end EF-4 damage in western Kentucky.
“While the tornado was on the ground for 128 miles within WFO Paducah’s forecast area, the total path length was at least 163.5 miles including the damage into Breckinridge County, Kentucky, within WFO Louisville’s coverage area.”
Additional information will be released as it becomes available, the NWS reported.
In the Paducah coverage area for this 128-mile section, the tornado first touched down at 8:56 p.m. Dec. 10. It was 5.5 miles southwest of Cayce, Kentucky, on the Kentucky, Tennessee line, the NWS reports. Officials caution that the tornado may extend back into northwest Tennessee, but that information was still being analyzed at the time the current report was written.
This portion of the analyzed tornado damage ended two hours and 14 minutes later, at 11:10 p.m. It was in an area 7.5 miles northeast of Bremen, Kentucky. The NWS noted that the tornado continued beyond this endpoint, into the area covered by the NWS-Louisville area.
The initial survey summary reports, “Massive impacts along most of the tornado track. Worst damage found in the following locations: Cayce, Mayfield, north of Benton, south of Princeton, Dawson Springs, Barnsley and Bremen, and possibly others.”
Additional information will be released as it becomes available, the NWS reported.