Hail, rain, high winds and possible twisters near Somerset rumble into KY

Yahoo

17-05-2025

Rounds of severe thunderstorms storms rolled across Kentucky Friday night and into Saturday morning, bringing reports of tornadoes, strong winds, large hail and power outages.
As of midnight, no deaths or injuries have been reported.
And while early Saturday morning there's been no official confirmation, photos and videos reveal a tornado was observed south of Somerset that was moving south of London as of about 11:45 p.m.
More than 131,000 Kentucky electric customers were without power as of about 11:30 p.m., according to PowerOutage.us.
In Lexington, there were a few reports of traffic lights out after strong winds moved through.
Hail the size of golf balls was reported in some parts of the state.
Thousands of lightning strikes were reported across the commonwealth.
For a time, all of Kentucky was under a tornado watch Friday night.
Central and Eastern Kentucky — along with portions of Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana — were under a tornado watch until 3 a.m. Saturday. The National Weather Service said tornadoes, scattered large hail and widespread wind gusts of up to 80 mph were likely.
'Everything we feared is trying to come together now,' WKYT chief meteorologist Chris Bailey said on-air just after 10 p.m.
He said he had been tracking one particular super cell thunderstorm for five or six hours as it roared across Missouri and made its way all the way to Somerset and London, which were under a tornado warning until midnight.
Bailey and Meteorologist Jim Caldwell said at least one tornado had been observed in the area south of Somerset headed toward the London area.
A flash flood warning was also issued for that area until 4:15 a.m.
Meteorologists on The Weather Channel warned of a raucous night of weather throughout the commonwealth, with stormy weather rumbling from Bowling Green all the way to central Ohio.
Another wave is expected to blast along the Interstate 64 corridor and affecting Louisville, Lexington and Morehead overnight into early Saturday morning.
Kentucky is 'absolutely juiced' for this bad weather, a meteorologist on The Weather Channel said on air at 10:28 p.m., pointing to wind patterns, humidity levels and radar forecasts. Scores of thunderstorm and tornado warnings were issued throughout Kentucky Friday night.
Owingsville, Salt Lick and Farmers were under a tornado warning until 10:30 p.m., while Russell Springs, Jamestown and Royville were under a tornado warning until 9:45 p.m. CDT.
Tornado and thunderstorm warnings had been issued in some portions of western Kentucky by early evening as the storms moved closer to Central Kentucky.
The National Weather Service in Paducah issued a tornado warning until 8:30 p.m. CST for parts of Daviess and Henderson counties, stating 'this is a life threatening situation. Seek shelter now!'
Parts of Warren and Barren counties were also under a tornado warning until 8:45 p.m. CST.
At 8:10 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning in the area, moving 55 mph.
Jeffersontown, Shelbyville and Shepherdsville were under a severe thunderstorm warning until 8:15 p.m. EST, with the National Weather Service in Louisville warning of winds of up to 60 mph and quarter-sized hail.
A round of storms that rolled through earlier in the day brought scattered reports of hail and wind damage.
Part of the roof of a commercial building that housed several retail shops was blown off in London, said Bryan Johnson, public relations director for the city.
As of early Friday evening, Whitley Street in London was still closed as crews worked to clear downed trees and utility poles.
Johnson said there were no reports of injuries.
There were reports of large hail in several places, including Warren, Ballard, Caldwell and Jackson counties.
Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency ahead of the storms Friday afternoon.
'We need everyone to be really careful and make sure you have weather alerts on and are at a location where you can seek safety if needed,' he said.