Estill County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Estill County: 0.
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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by KY GS (191).

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. May 31, 2004Flood, Estill$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On the afternoon of May 30th, a warm front was draped across eastern Kentucky. With extremely moist and unstable air, this boundary helped spark the beginning of a most unusual event for eastern Kentucky, and for that matter, for the country. Countless supercell thunderstorms developed along this boundary for hours on end, causing widespread tree damage and damage to structures. Flash flooding was also occurring with these storms which contained torrential rain. Unfortunately for eastern Kentucky, this was not the end to the severe weather or the flooding. Later in the night, mostly in the early hours of May 31st, a potent cold front burst through, bringing destruction to most if…

2. Jun 1, 2004Flood, Estill$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This event is actually a continuation of a flooding event which started on May 31st. Many roads were washed out, homes destroyed, and automobiles ruined. Some people were stranded in their own homes and had to be rescued.

3. Jun 10, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey team concluded that a microburst downed 20 to 30 trees and snapped off a radio tower near Furnace.

4. Apr 20, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downburst winds and an embedded F1 tornado damaged 40 homes and 20 barns on a 5 mile path from Red Lick to Barnes Mountain. The Barnes Mountain area recieved the worst damage. The DES reported 3 homes were destroyed with pieces of the homes blown into the valley. There was also severe damage to farm machinery, and 12 barns were destroyed. No injuries were reported.

5. May 11, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Ravenna grade school had its roof blown off. Also in Ravenna, a porch was blown off of a mobile home. Large trees and power lines were down across the county. Large trees were down along Kentucky Highway 52, Sand Hill Road, Cedar Grove Road, Regis Road, Nolan Hill, Blue Run Road, and Possum Run. The wind gust estimate was reported by a trained spotter.

6. Feb 28, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were blown down around the county between about 7 and 10 am. Four to five thousand people were without power during the morning hours.

7. Oct 9, 2009Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down near Sang Branch or about one half mile east of Jinks and had an intermittent path of about 3.75 miles in length. The tornado lifted in the vicinity of Wagersville just east of Station Camp Creek and west of Kentucky Hwy 89 at about 347 pm EDT. Numerous trees, both hard and soft wood, were uprooted. A motor home was overturned along the damage path and a small barn was lifted with the roof being blown off.

8. Apr 11, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were blown down on Stacy Lane, Worrells Road, Richmond Road, Blackburn Road, and Regis Road. A power line was also blown down on Blackburn Road and a tree was blown onto a trailer. Thunderstorm wind damage occurred countywide.

9. Feb 16, 2003Flood, Estill$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bridge was washed out on Congleton Bridge Hollow Road off of Highway 851

10. Feb 28, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and power lines were blown down county wide. Areas affected included Ravenna, Wagersville, McKee, Cow Creek, and Richmond Rd. Power outages were also reported across the county.

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 30, 2012

All-time low

−24°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

79°FJul 12, 2025

Coldest day

0°FJan 18, 1994

Wettest day

4.48 inJan 1, 2022

Snowiest day

12.0 inJan 22, 2016

Hottest year

2007mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1980mean 53.9°F

Wettest year

201873.40 in

Driest year

200533.78 in

Snowiest season

24.0 in2021-22

Station Crab Orchard 6 N (USC00151890), 1,025 ft elevation, 28.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1979 to September 30, 2026; 89.9% 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 USC00151890.
• 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.