The National Weather Service in Paducah has confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 85 mph touched down on the south side of Owensboro Saturday afternoon, causing minimal damage to a handful of businesses. No injuries were reported.
According to a final storm summary from NWS Paducah, the brief tornado developed along U.S. 431, south of the U.S. 60 bypass. It was captured on video as it formed and moved northeast from 3:55 to 4:01 p.m. The summary shows the path length was 2.14 miles with a max width of 25 yards.
A few seconds of the incident were captured on video by Owensboro’s Jay Newcom, who shared the footage with Owensboro Times. Watch the video here.
According to the NWS summary, the tornado damaged a billboard along its initial path and caused roof damage to the shopping center that includes Target and is anchored by Ulta Beauty on the south end. The summary said the tornado also damaged the garden center of Lowe’s and some windows and a door at Crandall’s Home Furnishings.
NWS officials said the tornado was one of four confirmed across the region Saturday. In a social media post, the agency noted that the storms producing these tornadoes appeared to be “mini supercells” or “low-top supercells” — storms that exhibit many characteristics of traditional supercells but lack the same depth. As a result, the storms produced limited or no lightning, which may have seemed unusual to area residents.
“There were circulations associated with the storms, but not quite on the scale we associate with a high probability of producing a tornado,” NWS officials said. “Those of you near these storms may have noted that there was very little to no lightning with those, which probably seemed pretty strange!”
An initial preliminary local storm report issued Saturday had already indicated that a brief tornado may have touched down near the Target store along Frederica Street, based on video and public reports. Preliminary reports are early summaries based on information from spotters, local officials, media, and the public. They remain unofficial until fully reviewed and certified.
Saturday’s Owensboro tornado has now been officially recorded as an EF-0, the lowest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which classifies tornadoes based on wind speed and associated damage.
