SPC Stats
Path length: 35 miles
Width: 880 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 3
Rating: F3
County: Daviess, Hancock (KY) / Perry (IN)
What was possibly a family of tornadoes traveled over 30 miles through parts of Daviess and Hancock Counties in Kentucky across the Ohio River into Perry County, Indiana. Large hail as big as “guinea pigs” accompanied the storm. The Climatological Data National Summary lists this as one tornado. They have it starting in West Louisville, KY and crossing the Ohio river into Indiana near Tell City.
At least three homes and numerous barns were destroyed in Kentucky. Several outbuildings were unroofed and trees were uprooted. Here is a clip about two of the destroyed homes.
A school was unroofed in Sorgho.
7-year-old Johnny Ebelhar was injured at the school. He was changing buses there.
Near Owensboro, the Medley Distilling Company was damaged. One of the trucks half-loaded with whiskey was pushed about 100 feet and the warehouse was unroofed.
Tornado Path
SPC coordinates: Start: 37.68 / -87.30 End: 37.95 / -86.73
Corrected Coordinates based on damage reports and map in newspaper:
Start: 37.719952/-87.312087 End: 37.968993/-86.738419
Veers in path: 37.754845/-87.245927, 37.785848/-87.116503, 37.871230/-86.978294
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the December 1952 Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS) and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 35 mile path length.
- Grazulis and Storm Data have a length at 32miles. Grazulis mentions this was probably a family of tornadoes.
Rating:
- Grazulis has an F2 rating.
- SPC/NCDC have an F3 rating.
Width:
- Grazulis has a width of 400 yards.
- Remaining sources have a width of 880 yards.
Sources:
December 1952 Climatological Data National Summary
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 966.
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