The West Liberty tornado was not the only strong tornado to affect eastern Kentucky during the late afternoon and evening hours of March 2, 2012. Another tornado, which was also rated EF-3 Intensity, struck the town of Salyersville and surrounding areas. Two people were killed by this tornado.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS) survey, this tornado touched down at approximately 6:50pm EST just to the South/Southeast of Burkhart, KY and continued East/Northeast for approximately 49 miles before lifting just across the West Virgina border to the South/Southeast of Kermit. Maximum winds are estimated at 160 mph according to the survey, in Johnson County.
The above image was included in the NWS Survey, as well as the corresponding damage photos below. The location numbers on the groups of images below correspond with the same numbers shown on the map above:
Location 1 - Salyersville:
The following video montage also shows the extensive damage in the Salyersville area:
And here are some additional damage photos of the Salyersville area taken by blog reader David Lorimer - thanks very much for sharing, David!:
Location 2 - Along Highway 825:
Location 3 - Hagerhill:
Location 4 - Along Highway 3:
Location 5 - Beauty:
Location 6 - Lovely:
The storm that produced this tornado was a classic "supercell" thunderstorm with a very strong indication of a tornado on radar, as shown on the images below:
Signatures of baseball (or larger) size hail and a tornado debris ball are noted on a copy of the same image below:
The debris ball is an indication that a large, damaging tornado is on the ground, as debris is being lifted up and carried along by the tornado and reflected back to the radar site.
The tornado crossed the Tug Fork River near Beauty, KY and moved into extreme western West Virginia for approximately 1 mile before ending.
This tornado was just one of many associated with the outbreak that took place across the Midwest, Ohio and Tennessee Valley region on Friday, March 2, 2012. Please see this post for a "Table of Contents" index listing of the other Tornado Chronicles posts associated with the outbreak.
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2 comments:
any updates on Salyersville?
@deborah
Salyersville reported 0 deaths.
They are already working to cleanup and rebuild. Electric was back on to most of the community by Wednesday. Because the tornado destroyed most of the business district, scores of people are left without jobs.
(I was on location Wednesday)
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