Numerous storm spotters were in western Kentucky on Sunday, May 26, to be the eyes on the ground for the National Weather Service office in Paducah.
Among them was Heather Carter, a veteran firefighter from Wilson County, Tennessee, who has been chasing storms for the past decade. Carter started her day in the storm that produced the EF-2 tornado that tracked across southern Trigg and Christian counties.
She watched a developing storm with a Tornado Warning as she traveled into the Commonwealth. While driving along Interstate 24, she decided to take the Pennyrile Parkway, soon to be designated as Interstate 169, toward Hopkinsville.
She soon encountered extreme winds.
As things calmed down, Carter turned around in Hopkinsville and returned toward Interstate 24.
Following that storm, Carter spent the rest of the morning and afternoon tracking other storms that made their way through western Kentucky. As the afternoon hours turned to evening, she paired up with Hardin County storm chaser Chris Evans.
Both would eventually follow a tornado-warned storm that began near Paducah and tracked through Calvert City. That storm would drop a tornado that caused up to EF-3 damage from east of Eddyville to near Earlington.
Due to their efforts, a Tornado Emergency was issued for parts of Caldwell and Hopkins counties. Residents in some of the most severely affected areas of Hopkins County had at least a 20-minute warning, giving them that much time to seek shelter.
Over her ten years of storm chasing, Carter has witnessed approximately 15 confirmed tornadoes, with the Interstate 69 EF-3 being one of the most powerful.
