Officials with the National Weather Service found evidence that three tornadoes — two EF0 and one EF1 — touched down in western Daviess County on Wednesday. They also located evidence of high wind damage on the west side of Owensboro.
NWS Lead Meteorologist Derrick Snyder and his team are conducting surveys throughout the impacted areas in the tristate and completed their study on Daviess County Friday afternoon. Snyder said they found evidence of the following:
- Two EF0 tornadoes, mainly west of West Louisville
- One EF1 tornado in Rome
- Very intense straight-line wind damage along Hwy 56
“We found straight-line wind damage going up to about 100 miles per hour. Several trees were uprooted, and power poles were down,” Snyder said.
He found more straight-line wind damage on the west side inside the city limits, with winds likely at 60-70 miles per hour.
Snyder said the storm that produced the damage that led to Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen declaring a disaster is called a bow echo. Bow echo storms often cause straight-line wind damage, and near the edge of the storm, tornadoes start to “spin up.”
“The inner edge of that storm can produce these tornadoes that we’ve seen,” Snyder said.
With these findings, Snyder said the NWS will build a map of the order of events, which will later be published to the public to use for insurance and future planning within the community.
“Documentation can be used in a lot of ways,” he said. “It can be used for the local officials’ records and the people impacted or just insurance records.”
