Letcher County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Letcher 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 (374), NASA (3), USGS Conterminous (1).

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. Aug 4, 2001Flash Flood$548,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Public roads and bridges were no match for the flash flooding that moved through the county. Heavy rains on already saturated ground produced widespread damage. The damage was extensive enough for the county to be classified as a Presidentially Declared Disaster Area. Homes were also damaged in the deluge in the Gilley and Gordon areas. Kentucky Highway 510 was completely flooded and residents of the area had to be rescued from the high water.

2. Jun 12, 2004Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One foot of water was over Highway 931, south of Cowan. Highway 931 was washed out near Highway 2035 and residents were evacuated out of their homes in Cowan. Highway 2035 was impassable and water was reported to have flooded into homes.

3. Feb 6, 2020Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A local radio station reported nearly 3 dozen roads impacted by flood waters across Letcher County, including several locations in Whitesburg and Jenkins. Mudslides were also caused by the previous heavy rainfall. Elkhorn Dam was seen with water rushing over it into the streets downtown due to the heavy rain.||Emergency Management also reported numerous roads impacted by flood waters. The most substantial of these being on Orchard Road near the community of Ice, west of Whitesburg. High water in the North Fork of the Kentucky River caused a pier of a bridge to be ripped up and destroyed.

4. Jul 14, 2000Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding caused significant damage to 20 roads and at least 18 bridges. Six of the damaged bridges were deemed unusable. 15 to 20 homes received water damage and two were evacuated.

5. Jul 2, 2002Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains sent flood waters raging through the town of Fleming-Neon and some outlying areas. The flash flooding damaged homes, closed businesses, and coated City Hall in mud. The flooding also temporarily closed local roads.

6. Jul 2, 2004Flash Flood$110,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Greater than six inches of water was flowing across the intersection of Kentucky Highways 119 and 2035. Near the community of Cowan, two to three people were evacuated. Fifteen homes sustained interior water damage with an additional 15 homes receiving exterior water damage. Three to four bridges were washed out and a portion of Highway 931 was damaged.

7. Feb 15, 2003Flood, Letcher$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   United States Highway 23 was under water near the Letcher and Pike County line. Several structures were damaged in Happy Hollow.

8. May 15, 2018Flash Flood$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dispatch and local media reported several instances of flash flooding from near Fish Pond Lake to Fleming-Neon and Whitaker. This included portions of Kentucky Highway 3406 being closed, along with several other local roads. Just southeast of Tolliver Town and near Payne Gap, a couple of culverts were displaced due to swiftly flowing flood waters. Three people had to be rescued from their vehicles after they became inundated by water, while four homes were flooded.

9. Feb 20, 2019Heavy Rain$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local media reported at least 30 rock and mud slides in and around Whitesburg and throughout the county, along with pavement breaks. A slide in Whitesburg caused Main Street to be shutdown for a couple of weeks to ensure its structural integrity.

10. Apr 12, 2020Strong Wind, Letcher$55,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong storm system and associated cold front approached eastern Kentucky on Easter Sunday, with rainfall beginning during the afternoon. As the low pressure system intensified and moved into the Ohio Valley during the evening of the 12th, wind speeds began to drastically increase across eastern Kentucky. The Kentucky Mesonet station in Dorton, (positioned at 2774 feet elevation) recorded a 79 mph wind gust.||Several other gusts of 40+ mph occurred, leading to numerous instances of damage across eastern Kentucky. This includes downed trees, power lines, and structural damage, causing several roadways to be blocked for a period of time into the morning of the 13th. As many as…

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

97°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−23°F3 times, most recently Feb 21, 2015

Warmest night

71°FJul 22, 2011

Coldest day

7°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 2022

Wettest day

4.28 inJul 28, 2022

Snowiest day

12.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 13, 2014

Hottest year

2019mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

1996mean 50.7°F

Wettest year

202069.94 in

Driest year

200732.91 in

Snowiest season

90.0 in1995-96

Station Clintwood 1W (USC00441825), 1,566 ft elevation, 17.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1993 to October 18, 2026; 99.3% 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 USC00441825.
• 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.