Annual NLCD slider of a 2025 tornado in Kentucky

This Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) slider shows before (2024) and after (2025) images of a tornado that tore through part of southern Kentucky, in the Somerset and London area, on May 16, 2025. Mixed forest is shown in light green, deciduous forest in medium green, and small patches of evergreen forest in dark green. Pasture/hay land is shown in yellow; small patches of cropland in dark brown; and open water in dark blue. Shades of pink and red are developed areas, including roads and residential areas. The light tan line in the 2025 image, indicating the EF-4 tornado’s path, shows where the land cover shifted from forest to grass. Nineteen people were killed, and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed. At its widest, the tornado stretched nearly a mile to mow down trees in the Daniel Boone National Forest.