Jefferson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Jefferson County: 15.
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.

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

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 2, 1997Flood, Jefferson$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ohio River flooding. See narrative for north central Kentucky counties.

2. Mar 2, 2012Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado entered Jefferson County as an EF-4 with a damage width of one-third of a mile. Several mobile homes were destroyed along and just north of State Highway 362 near the three-county intersection with Clark and Scott Counties. The tornado severely damaged several frame houses here, extensively damaged many power poles and power lines, and felled many trees. ||After snapping trees and power poles along County Road 850, the tornado did a tremendous amount of damage around 2 miles south of Chelsea near the intersection of State Highway 62 and Swan Road. Here, several well built brick homes were destroyed. The homes had anchor bolts attached to steel plates and a concrete…

3. Mar 28, 1997Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down just east of Blocher in Scott county and traveled around 10 miles to Madison. The tornado apparently skipped across mostly open country across central Jefferson county knocking down numerous trees. As it moved across the northern part of Madison, it heavily damaged 2 homes from Shun Pike to Audobun Pike. The tornado was spotted by state police as it approached Madison.

4. Sep 3, 2022Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 64 year old woman was killed when water left the banks of Brushy Fork and swept away her house on Brushy Fork Road. A barn and all the family's belongings were also swept away in the flood waters. The body of the woman was found 5 miles downstream by family members after first responders suspended their efforts overnight. The value of the damaged property is unknown.

5. Mar 1, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported that a brick home near Rogers Road and Chicken Run Road was completely missing its roof due to severe thunderstorm winds. The residence next to it had half of its roof missing. Many trees in the area were snapped or uprooted. An NWS damage survey team determined the winds to be near 100 mph. This was part of a larger swath of 70+ mph winds that extended in a 1-2 mile wide path from northern Scott into western Jefferson County.

6. Dec 22, 2004Heavy Snow, Jefferson$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A winter storm brought heavy snow to south central Indiana. Storm total amounts of 20 to 30 inches were reported over the area. High winds developed later in the day on the 23rd, creating drifts of snow up to four or five feet. Most roadways were dangerous or impassable, and sections of Interstate 64 were closed for a time due to accidents. The roofs on several business warehouses and storage buildings collapsed due to the weight of the snow in Jasper (Dubois County) and Paoli (Orange County). At least 11 turkey houses in Dubois County collapsed due to the snow. Hundreds of birds were killed or injured (this agricultural loss is reflected in the crop damage figure quoted above).…

7. Aug 14, 2002Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado path was mainly through a rural section of Jefferson County. F1 damage was noted in and around the town of Deputy, with estimated wind speeds of 100 mph. Several roofs were lifted off structures, and eye witnesses reported debris swirling in the air around the tornado. Debris consisted primarily of boards and limbs. Numerous trees were torn down and laid in varying directions along the tornado path.

8. Apr 9, 1999Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down in Dupont taking the roof off and structurally damaging one home. The storm also damaged to a lesser extent several homes and barns along its path. The storm then intensified as it moved into Jennings county.

9. Aug 14, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofs were blown off several houses in Deputy.

10. May 27, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A barn was destroyed by thunderstorm winds.

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 2012

All-time low

−24°FJan 17, 1977

Warmest night

84°FAug 13, 1947

Coldest day

0°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.50 inJun 23, 1960

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 25, 1961

Hottest year

1954mean 57.5°F

Coldest year

1958mean 52.3°F

Wettest year

194564.52 in

Driest year

198727.11 in

Snowiest season

47.5 in1950-51

Station N Vernon 2 Ese (USC00126435), 719 ft elevation, 19.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 27, 2026; 92.9% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00126435.
• 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.
• 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.