EF-4 NWS gives rare rating for May 16 tornado
Glenna and Troy Gosser surveyed damage behind the Crawford Gosser home which was destroyed in the May 16 EF-4 tornado in eastern Russell County. PHOTO | (Storm Alert Center)
Storm Alert Center
Special to The Times Journal
Since May 16, locals are more concerned about the weather-buying weather radios and storm shelters and wondering what to do when the next one strikes.
The tornado that came through Russell County recently was rated EF-4 according to the National Weather Service.
After ground and air surveys, officials say the tornado produced peak winds of 170 mph, was on the ground for 60 miles, had a maximum width of 1,700 yards and resulted in 19 deaths statewide.
The Enhanced Fujita Scale, used to determine tornado wind speed, starts the EF-4 rating at 166 MPH which would make this tornado a low-end EF-4.
Last month’s supercell storm which prompted multiple tornado warnings began in Springfield Missouri and tracked continuously across the state and into Russell County.
Officials said the tornado touched down around 10 p.m. in Russell County on KY 619, continued on to Eli and Gosser Ridge, Somerset and Laurel County-ending a 60-mile track of destruction.
The tornado history of Russell County is very interesting based on data from the National Weather Service and old, local newspapers.
The May 16 event was the eighth such tornado since the Salem/Gosser Ridge storm in April of 1971.
That tornado, and one in 1933, were rated an F-4 (according to the original rating scale) and each one resulted in deaths.
A quick search of Russell County News archives documents several accounts of tornadoes locally.
The first noted was in June of 1949 in the Mt. Eden Community.
The next was in May of 1950 when a tornado was reported on KY 80 near Old Columbia Road.
It was April 1963 when a likely tornado touched down on Lakeway Drive and destroyed the drive in theater.
Three years later in August 1966, damage attributed to a tornado was seen just north of Jamestown.
The last reported tornado for that era was in July 1968 at Swan Pond Bottom in Jamestown.
Larger tornadoes in Russell County from 1950 to 1971 were practically zero.
The deadly April 27, 1971, tornado was long tracked starting in Beckham Ridge and continuing on to Bottom Road, U.S. 127 north of Russell Springs to Fairview, Salem, Irvine’s Store and Gosser Ridge.
Some damage noted was consistent with a multiple vortex (funnel) tornado with an F-4 rating (207 to 260 mph).
The next tornado events were March 29, 1974, on Gaskin Road in Jamestown, and April 3, 1974, the extreme eastern part of Russell County.
After an April 2, 1983, and May 6, 1984, tornado, there was an almost 13-year span in which no tornadoes were reported in Russell County.
The next tornado would be March 28, 1997, when a twister touched down just inside the western part of the county line along KY 55-moving northeast across Middletown and to the Half Acre Community.
The February 29, 2012, Leap Year tornado did extensive damage in the Poplar Grove Community on U.S. 127, north of Russell Springs.
As part of a late-night destructive line of storms, a brief tornado touched down June 25 in Jamestown-taking a roof off an apartment, severely damaging a home and uprooting several large trees.
While cleanup has gone well thanks to help from neighbors, friends and FEMA, there will be permanent scars where downed trees lay, and metal roofing will be seen in trees for years to come.
EF-4 tornadoes can cause “catastrophic damage,” and that designation is the next to highest possible rating in terms of strength.
The U.S. saw anywhere from zero to six EF-4 rated tornadoes each year from 2015 through 2024.
This year is already on the higher end of that range for the past decade.
The average over that time is about three per year, which is two fewer than seen so far in 2025.
