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National Weather Service continues to assess the Mayfield Kentucky tornado

 Tornado damage of the First Christian Church in Mayfield Kentucky  from December 10, 2021.
Liam Niemeyer, WKMS Radio. Used with permission.
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Tornado damage of the First Christian Church in Mayfield Kentucky from December 10, 2021.

It'll likely be several more days before the National Weather Service office in Paducah can determine the category of the tornado that hit Mayfield. But Meteorologist Michael York says they are learning some aspects of the tornado.

"It was a mile wide in some places. It was on the ground in the Western kentucky area for 128 miles. That does not include the part of the track that in Tennessee, Arkansas or central Kentucky."

York says they are gathering data from every damage point, and once that is done, the National Weather Service will be able to say what the highest wind speeds were and assign the tornado a rating on a scale of one to five.

Born in Newport, Rhode Island to a military family, Kevin Boucher traveled the country and the world at a young age before his family settled in Murphysboro, Illinois in 1976. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Radio-Television at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale and worked in commercial radio before becoming the Traffic Manager at WSIU Public Television. Boucher has since earned a Master's degree in Professional Media & Media Management Studies from SIU's College of Mass Communication & Media Arts. He is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys gardening and exploring the flora and fauna of the Shawnee National Forest and other beautiful natural areas across southern Illinois. Kevin is embarking on a new path with WSIU as the Community Engagement Producer for WSIU Radio. Look for Kevin's work on air and on line.
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