Survey teams from the National Weather Service in Paducah have found the tracks of three more tornadoes that struck northern Christian County near Pennyrile Forest State Park Saturday morning.
A twister with maximum winds of 90 mph touched down about two miles north of Hawkins at 7:19 a.m. and stayed on the ground for just over three miles before ending seven miles southeast of Dawson Springs. Its maximum width was 200 yards.
A couple homes sustained minor roof damage, at least a dozen trees were downed or uprooted and a few barns were damaged or blown down.
Two tornadoes that began in Caldwell County made their way into north Christian.
The first touched down at 7:05 a.m. seven miles west-northwest of Cerulean and stayed on the ground for 10 miles before going back into the clouds at 7:19 a.m. five miles north-northeast of Cerulean in northern Christian County.
That EF1 tornado had maximum winds of 100 mph and a maximum width of 250 yards.
At least six out buildings were damaged or destroyed, four power poles were taken down and dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted.
Another EF1 tornado touched down seven miles southeast of Princeton at about 7:12 a.m. and stayed on the ground for nearly eight miles before going back into the sky at 7:20 a.m. seven miles south-southeast of Dawson Springs in Christian County.
Hundreds of trees were uprooted or snapped in that twister that packed winds of 95 mph.
That makes a total of five known tornadoes that touched down in Christian County between 7 and 8 a.m. Saturday. Rick Shanklin is the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Paducah and says while he isn’t sure if that’s a record for one day in Christian County, five tornadoes in the early morning hours in January is certainly rare.
It’s not unprecedented for the area, however, as many will remember that a tornado in the early morning hours of January 22, 1999 devastated downtown Clarksville, Tennessee.
Click here to read the NWS survey report.