Bowling Green

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Warren County, the county that contains Bowling Green.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Warren County, the county that contains Bowling Green.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Warren County, the county that contains Bowling Green.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Warren County.

Mapped by KY GS (8).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 16, 1998Hail$510 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large classic supercell thunderstorm moved from northern Logan county through central parts of Warren, Barren and Metcalfe counties and then into western Adair county. A swath of large hail accompanied the storm across Logan and Warren counties and correlated well with maximum KLVX WSR-88D composite reflectivities. Many places along the route of the storm reported baseball size hail. Bowling Green was particularly devastated by the storm with incredible damage to all area car lots, all police cars, homes and Western Kentucky University. Every car dealership and rent-a-car lot had all of their cars totaled. In all, 8,300 homes, 900 mobile homes, 4,000 vehicles, 37 businesses, and…

2. Mar 1, 1997Flood, Warren$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   4 to 9 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours causing widespread flooding and/or flash flooding resulting in numerous water covered and closed roads, evacuations and rescues. Most of these counties were declared disaster areas and given federal assistance. The exceptions were Clinton, Cumberland, Garrard, Green, Lincoln, Madison and Marion. Many homes and businesses were effected during the flooding and flash flooding. Damage amounts include flooding and flash flooding totals over the 2 day period.

3. May 2, 2010Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Barren River at Bowling Green crested at 43.7 feet around 315 PM EST on May 3. Flood stage at Bowling Green is 28 feet. Moderate flooding occurs at this level, which is about 1.3 feet below the major flood stage. Several homes were flooded, the Beech Bend Racetrack was flooded, as were the approaches to the Kentucky 185 bridge.

4. Nov 15, 2005Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm developed over northern Tennessee and moved into south central Kentucky during the early evening hours of November 15. It produced multiple, short-lived tornado touchdowns along its path, which stretched for nearly 25 miles across three counties. The third and final touchdown was in Warren County in the Woodburn area. The tornado was on the ground for approximately a mile, and did F1 damage to at least three businesses, six homes, and numerous barns and outbuildings.

5. Jan 30, 2013Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado touched down just to the east of Interstate 65 around 3 miles southwest of Smith's Grove. After damaging several outbuildings, it encountered a set of 4 grain silos just to the south of Glasgow Road. It destroyed all 4 silos and threw their remains several hundred yards to the east. The tornado stayed on the ground for 3 miles, eventually crossing Interstate 65 just south of Smith's Grove. This tornado overturned a semi-trailer on the interstate. Before lifting up just to the east of Smith's Grove, it destroyed an older wooden barn and a large well constructed dairy barn, ripping steel I-beams out of their concrete base, scattering its roof, and collapsing its…

6. Mar 1, 2017Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The NWS in conjunction with Warren County Emergency Management determined a high end EF-1 tornado touched down in southeastern Warren County, east of I-65 near Claypool community. Several structures, residences, and barns saw extensive damage along Cemetery Rd and Martinsville Ford Road. The tornado tracked for approximately 3 miles, was 125 yards at its widest point, and had peak estimated wind speed of 110 mph.

7. Feb 24, 2018Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down near the intersection of Hays Pondsville Rd and FH Roundtree Rd, destroying a small metal shed, overturning a trailer, flattening a fence, and causing minor roof damage to a home. The very narrow tornado - only 30 to 50 yards wide - continued northeast, uprooting trees and damaging outbuildings on neighboring property, including breaking out all of the windows of one building. The path continued northeast over open countryside, snapping tree limbs of several trees. It then tore the porch off the east side of a home on the south side of Highway 68-80, depositing debris into nearby woods. ||Crossing 68-80, the tornado did its greatest damage, tearing a very…

8. Mar 3, 2020Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most of the damage was around the southeastern portion of the Alvaton community, east of Bowling Green. Several trees were either uprooted or pushed over, facing from the west-southwest to the east-northeast just west of Highway 231 on Fairview Road. The wind swath was about 200 yards wide. Just east of Highway 231 a large 40 x 60 storage barn for a camper had its roof partially lifted downwind to the east northeast. The metal siding was flung up to 150 yards into the trees. The tree damage continued along Alvaton- Scottsville Road into Marble Gate Ct. Several homes sustained roof damage, with several porches partially lifted up causing structural damage. One home on Marble Gate…

9. Jan 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused structural damage to several homes at the Hidden River Estates off Elrod Road. The roof was blown off one home, and several other homes had extensive roof damage.

10. Jul 22, 2019Lightning$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning caused a structure fire on the 400 block of Cambridge Grove Circle.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

113°FJul 28, 1930

All-time low

−21°F2 times, most recently Jan 24, 1963

Warmest night

81°F4 times, most recently Jul 6, 2022

Coldest day

−1°FFeb 9, 1899

Wettest day

6.15 inDec 7, 1924

Snowiest day

18.0 inMar 9, 1960

Hottest year

1921mean 63.0°F

Coldest year

1958mean 55.1°F

Wettest year

197976.56 in

Driest year

193030.50 in

Snowiest season

48.0 in1959-60

Station Bowling Green Warren County Airport (USW00093808), 523 ft elevation, 1.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.8% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Warren County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00093808.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.