Formation and rapid strengthening The tornado touched down in
Woodland Mills in
Obion County, Tennessee, along Woodland Mills Road at 8:54 p.m. CST (02:54 UTC). It was produced by the same supercell that had produced another
violent long-tracked tornado that affected northeast
Arkansas, the
Missouri Bootheel, and northwest
Tennessee. After the dissipation of that tornado in Obion County northeast of
Samburg, the supercell produced three weak, brief tornadoes before the Western Kentucky tornado formed several miles to the northeast. Farther to the northeast, the tornado reached EF2 strength, tearing roofs off homes, damaging or destroying outbuildings, damaging irrigation equipment, and ripping apart trailer homes. Soon after, the tornado became violent and directly impacted the small community of
Cayce at low-end EF4 intensity, where homes and small businesses were damaged or destroyed, some of which were leveled or swept from their foundations. A music venue in a former school building was badly damaged, and the Cayce Volunteer Fire Department building was destroyed; the metal beams of the structure were severely twisted as pieces of heavy machinery were tossed around. Several outbuildings and mobile homes were also destroyed. One person died in Cayce and several others were injured. After moving to the northeast of Cayce, the tornado weakened but remained strong as it moved at EF3 intensity through rural areas to the northeast of the town, destroying barns and a cell tower, and tearing the roof and exterior walls from a house. The tornado moved into
Hickman County and appeared to dramatically intensify as it crossed
US 51, where extreme ground scouring occurred in nearby fields. The tornado scoured trenches into the ground, removing all grass and several inches of topsoil in the worst-affected areas. No structures were impacted near US 51 and no rating was applied to the scouring. EF3 damage continued past this point as homes and metal truss towers were destroyed. EF2 damage was noted as it tracked into
Graves County, closely paralleling
Purchase Parkway and
US 45, and moving directly toward the city of
Mayfield. The roof of a house along
KY 339 was torn off, and many trees and power poles were downed in this area.
Mayfield The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for Mayfield at 9:26 p.m. CST (03:26 UTC) as the now massive wedge tornado approached the town from the southwest. The large, metal-framed warehouse building collapsed, trapping employees, and resulting in eight deaths and numerous injuries. Most of the structures in downtown Mayfield were heavily damaged or destroyed, including large, well-built, multi-story, brick buildings that collapsed. Only large piles of bricks and lumber remained in the hardest-hit portions of the downtown area, and streets were left buried under debris. The large, well-constructed
Graves County Courthouse had much of its roof torn off, its
clock tower collapsed, and some of its exterior upper-floor walls were demolished. Several restaurants, an indoor soccer facility, a barber shop, automotive business, a gym, a bank, a movie theater, a health-and-rehab center, and many other businesses in downtown Mayfield were destroyed. Large metal silos were crumpled and heavily damaged at a granary, and the large Mayfield water tower was toppled and destroyed. The post office, city hall, fire station, and police station were significantly damaged or destroyed, and the emergency operations center lost the ability to transmit radio communications. Twenty-two people were killed in and around Mayfield, and hundreds more were injured, many severely. The tornado's winds peaked at in the city. The tornado then moved into
Briensburg at EF2 intensity; houses near and along
US 68 sustained partial-to-total roof loss, outbuildings were damaged or destroyed, and a metal truss transmission tower collapsed. Past Briensburg, EF3 damage occurred along Lowery Road, where a poorly anchored house was leveled, and some other homes sustained EF2 damage. before impacting Princeton, the tornado hit and destroyed a Kentucky
mesonet station, which recorded winds, setting the new record for the highest-measured wind gust in Kentucky history. In Princeton, dozens of houses along the southern and southeastern fringes of town were destroyed, especially at the Princeton Golf and Country Club subdivision, where several houses were leveled or swept away. The
University of Kentucky Research Center was destroyed; metal roof trusses were carried hundreds of yards from the structure and wrapped around trees. Cars were thrown from the parking lot into adjacent fields, metal light poles were ripped from their concrete footings, and ground scouring occurred. In and around Princeton, trees were stripped of their limbs and partially debarked, barns and farm buildings were destroyed, livestock was killed, and cycloidal markings were left in fields outside the town. Four deaths and numerous injuries occurred in Princeton. The tornado then followed
US 62, producing EF2 to EF3 damage to homes in the small communities of
Lewistown and Midway. Vehicles were thrown into piles in the parking lot of the complex. Several
duplexes at Clarkdale Court were destroyed, including one that was leveled with only a pile of debris remaining. An
American Legion post and a car wash were flattened, and a church and a medical clinic sustained major damage. Some logistics facilities and warehouses in an industrial park were leveled as the tornado exited the city, as were several metal self-storage-unit buildings and large garages nearby. Fourteen people were killed in the Dawson Springs area and many others were injured. A mother and her two children survived with major injuries by hanging on to a mattress as they were thrown through the air into a field after the tornado swept their Dawson Springs home from its foundation after crushing them underneath it first. A photograph from a destroyed house in Dawson Springs was lofted and transported almost by the intense tornadic updrafts, eventually being found in
New Albany, Indiana. Beyond Dawson Springs, the tornado tracked to the northeast, passing north of
Ilsley and through the rural community of Carbondale, weakening slightly to high-end EF3 strength but continuing to cause major damage. Farm outbuildings and mobile homes were demolished, and houses sustained major damage or were destroyed. Additional high-end EF3 damage occurred and another tornado emergency was issued as it moved through
Barnsley, just south of
Earlington and
Helca, and just north of
Mortons Gap. Almost every house in the small community was damaged or destroyed, including some that were leveled, though they were not well-constructed. Thousands of large trees were downed and vehicles were flipped. Past Barnsley, the tornado crossed over the CSX Cut-Off Main line and
I-69 before passing through an unpopulated, swampy area, where large trees were snapped or uprooted, and damage was rated EF2. Eleven people were killed in and around Bremen, and others were injured. Among the fatalities was District Judge Brian Crick, who represented Muhlenberg and
McLean counties, as confirmed in a statement from the Supreme Court of Kentucky on December 11. After the tornado left Bremen, some weakening occurred; it crossed
US 431 south of Stroud, where some houses and mobile homes were damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of large trees were snapped and denuded. Damage in this area was rated EF2 to low-end EF3. The last area of EF3-strength damage occurred along KY 69 and Utley Drive northeast of Hartford, where a poorly anchored, block-foundation home was swept away and destroyed, and other houses lost their roofs and exterior walls. Two anchored mobile homes were swept away and destroyed, with their frames tossed and bent, and one was thrown . An RV camper in this area was thrown , landing upside down; tractors and hay bales were also thrown considerable distances. On January 23, 2025, Anthony W. Lyza with the
National Severe Storms Laboratory along with Harold E. Brooks and Makenzie J. Kroca with the
University of Oklahoma published a paper where they stated the tornado in Mayfield was an "EF5 candidate" and opined that the EF5 starting wind speed should be instead of . == Impacts ==