Kentucky tornado outbreak of 2021 was a devastating late-season storm that affected the central United States. The storm produced several long-tracked tornadoes. Such tornadoes stay in contact with the ground for many miles or kilometers after they touch down.
On Dec. 10, 2021, a powerful storm system generated at least 22 tornadoes through Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Tornadoes more frequently occur in the spring and summer. Several of the tornadoes were remarkably long-tracked. Among them was one of the longest-tracked tornadoes in U.S. history, which traveled 165 miles (266 kilometers) from touchdown to the point where it lost contact with the ground.
The outbreak most severely affected western Kentucky. Seventy-seven people were killed in Kentucky alone. In Mayfield, not far from the Mississippi River, a tornado hit a candle factory where 110 people were working the night shift. Employees alleged that supervisors refused to allow them to seek shelter as the weather worsened. The building collapsed in the storm, killing eight workers.
More than a dozen others were killed among Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee. The storm system damaged an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, killing six people. A tornado hit a nursing home in Arkansas, killing one resident. Thousands of businesses, houses, and schools were damaged in the outbreak.
