Marion County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by KY GS (5).

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 7, 2018Lightning$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was a large house fire caused be lightning.

2. Jun 23, 2017Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado spun up in a broader area of 40-60 mph winds that caused minor tree damage across an area over a mile wide in western Marion County. The tornado touched down on the edge of a large wooded area west of Highway 527 0.4 miles south of St Francis. Moving due east, it snapped the trunks of several large trees, blocking the highway, and mowed down a line of trees along Louis Mattingly Road. It continued to to tree-top damage in a heavily wooded area as it moved east, then tore roof panels off several hog barns on the south end of A. Mills Road. Drone footage of corn near the barns showed multiple streaks of converging winds in an area approximately 100 yards in width.…

3. Nov 18, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The sides of a large industrial storage building were blown in. A barn was blown down on Radio Station Road.

4. Nov 9, 2000Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fairly new barn was blown down. In the vicinity, the roof of a garage was collapsed, and the garage door was wrapped around the back of the car inside. Three mobile homes were damaged and one was demolished.

5. May 1, 2002Hail$100,000
6. Oct 19, 2007Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down about three quarters of a mile southwest of Bradfordsville near the intersection of Bradfordsville and Thornton Roads. A mobile home was rolled over and two homes suffered shingle damage. An outbuilding also sustained minor damage, and several small trees were downed. From here, the tornado moved east-northeast into Bradfordsville, doing significant tree damage, snapping power poles, and destroying several outbuildings, one of which collapsed onto a speedboat. When the tornado lifted, the parent thunderstorm continued to cause extensive tree damage on the eastern side of Bradfordsville. Structural and tree damage from the tornado was consistent with an EF-0 tornado.

7. Feb 15, 2003Ice Storm, Marion$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Light to occasionally moderate freezing rain began on the evening of the 15th, and continued through the evening of the 16th. Reports of ice accumulations of an inch were common along and north of Interstate 64, from Frankfort to Winchester. The hardest hit areas were in and around the cities of Frankfort and Lexington, where up to an inch and a quarter of ice accumulation was observed. A 78 year old male in Lawrenceburg in Anderson County died of injuries sustained when he was struck by a falling, ice covered, tree limb. After the storm, it is estimated that nearly 125,000 residents were without power for up to five days or more. Most of the property damage was reported in the…

8. Nov 9, 2000High Wind, Marion$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of thunderstorms was set off by a cold front earlier in the afternoon. That evening, there were strong gradient winds over Central Kentucky in the wake of the front. Three miles west of Lebanon, in Marion County, a mobile home was destroyed by winds, and five or six others were blown off their foundations.

9. Feb 6, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A cold front along with a strong upper level low produced a squall line that crossed central Kentucky. This set off widespread severe weather, and spawned several tornadoes.

10. May 6, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$50,000

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.

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.
• 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.