Severe Threat May 15-16, 2025

[tornado examiner]

Extremely impressive vegetation damage. From London.

 

[AJS]

Extremely impressive vegetation damage. From London.

Where in London is that?

 

[tornado examiner]

Where in London is that?

Idk

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

Extremely impressive vegetation damage. From London.

From what I can tell that contextual damage does look pretty high-end.

 

[SouthFLwx]

Where in London is that?

Found the source of this image. This video really puts into perspective the scale of the devastation in London. I think an EF4 rating is necessary.

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

Found the source of this image. This video really puts into perspective the scale of the devastation in London. I think an EF4 rating is necessary.

Some people think an EF5 is necessary to destroy an entire town which is not true. I think a very large wedge EF4 or a mid to high-end EF3 tornado could destroy an entire town.

 

[akt1985]

Driving I-65 yesterday, I did not see any damage along the interstate, including Bowling Green, Kentucky and Columbus, Indiana. I am amazed the tornadoes Friday literally stopped before the interstate and reformed once they got past the interstate.

 

[OH-IOan]

Just woke up… did I miss any rating-related things? I don’t think London’s going to get a violent rating at all, it’ll be nitpicked to death and back.

 

[SouthFLwx]

Just woke up… did I miss any rating-related things? I don’t think London’s going to get a violent rating at all, it’ll be nitpicked to death and back.

I think it has a legitimate shot of achieving an EF4 rating. It's hard not to achieve such a rating when the devastation is this complete.

 

[OH-IOan]

I think it has a legitimate shot of achieving an EF4 rating. It's hard not to achieve such a rating when the devastation is this complete.

Yea, but my concern is the building quality in the area which it hit, which.. isn’t going to be too good. That has a direct impact on the tornado’s rating, and barring contextuals structural damage may not do it.

 

[SouthFLwx]

Yea, but my concern is the building quality in the area which it hit, which.. isn’t going to be too good. That has a direct impact on the tornado’s rating, and barring contextuals structural damage may not do it.

I understand that the structural quality of the buildings that were completely destroyed may have not been the best, but you don’t need to superior construction to earn an EF4 rating.

 

[AJS]

To summarize the damage we’ve seen from the London, KY tornado: We can very clearly see this tornado was violent and the contextual damage without a doubt shows that it’s capable of achieving an EF4 rating.

 

[OH-IOan]

To summarize the damage we’ve seen from the London, KY tornado: We can very clearly see this tornado was violent and the contextual damage without a doubt shows that it’s capable of achieving an EF4 rating.

Oh, was it violent? 100%, just look at some of the extreme tree damage in the London area and the forested areas west of London. I guess we’ll just have to see how NWS Jackson handles it.

Even if the tornado doesn’t get a rating higher than EF3, this tornado will go down as having produced some of the most extreme tree damage of the 2020s, alike with Mayfield and a few other EF4s.

 

[AJS]

Oh, was it violent? 100%, just look at some of the extreme tree damage in the London area and the forested areas west of London. I guess we’ll just have to see how NWS Jackson handles it.

Even if the tornado doesn’t get a rating higher than EF3, this tornado will go down as having produced some of the most extreme tree damage of the 2020s, alike with Mayfield and a few other EF4s.

100% agreed. That beast leveled everything in it’s path.

 

[OH-IOan]

100% agreed. That beast leveled everything in it’s path.

I think I’ve noted this before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tornado that visibly thin kill so many people. Looking at the photos of it in Somerset, where 23+ people were killed, it didn’t visibly (emphasis on the “visibly”) look wide or damaging at all. Perfect example of how violent tornadoes don’t have to be huge to be deadly.

 

[Aaron Rider]

I'm thinking EF3 would be reasonable for Marion:



I'm still looking for tree damage. In one picture, I thought I saw clearly severe debarking. I haven't verified that. There's some partial debarking in this video. Low-end EF4 would probably be reasonable with this one.

As for London, bearing in mind that Kentucky has a reputation for rural poverty (which I don't blame on the residents - I wrote my senior thesis years ago on politics in that region; I'm by no means an expert but a lot of Kentucky's problems are not exclusively its own; a guy named Kenneth Tunnell has written some sad but poignant stuff about the decline of rural life in Kentucky), the context definitely paints a story of violence. Still hoping to see more information about Sikeston (Blodgett?), Linton, and Marion. Also, because I wasn't following the events in real time: I've seen references to Cleal Springs and Marion - was this the same tornado?

 

[ColdFront]

Jackson has a preliminary rating of the Somerset section of the London tornado as an EF2.

19 killed in long, powerful tornado that hit southern Kentucky; search for survivors continues

An apparent powerful tornado tore through Russell, Pulaski and Laurel County in Kentucky late Friday night, leaving a trail of destruction and killing several.

www.wlky.com

Relevant part of the article:

The National Weather Service is surveying the damage to determine the paths of tornadoes and the strength.

The one that hit Somerset has been determined to be at least an EF-2, meaning wind speeds could have been as high as 135 mph. Some surveys may not be completed until later in the week.

 

[Kds86z]

Jackson has a preliminary rating of the London tornado as a EF2.

Prelim of ef2? lol what..

 

[ColdFront]

Prelim of ef2? lol what..

The Somerset portion. I edited my post to reflect that

 

[Kds86z]

The Somerset portion. I edited my post to reflect that

Ohh ok. Somerset didn’t have bad damage I reckon?