Monroe County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (3).

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. Feb 5, 2008Tornado$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado crossed into Monroe County, Kentucky from Macon County, Tennessee. About two miles west of Gamaliel, the tornado destroyed two conventional homes and two mobile homes. Thirteen residents of the four homes took shelter in the basement of one of the homes. They escaped without injury, although they were trapped in rubble for 30 minutes. Several other homes were damaged in a subdivision a mile north of Gamaliel. The tornado ripped the roof off a brick home there. It tracked across rural Monroe County, uprooting and snapping large trees. On the north side of Tompkinsville, it destroyed a large wood frame warehouse and twisted a large steel frame metal building off its…

2. Jan 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds damaged several homes in the Fountain Run area. Elsewhere, numerous trees were downed.

3. Jan 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed at least 20 tobacco barns and other outbuildings. At least one home was damaged.

4. Apr 3, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two barns were destroyed. Winds also damaged a house.

5. Mar 1, 1997Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F2 tornado destroyed two homes and damaged several others. A few barns were also destroyed. Many trees and power lines also down. Several residents sighted the tornado that coincided with the doppler radar indicated mesocyclone position.

6. May 2, 2010Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads across the county were closed due to flash flooding. A total of six to ten inches of rain fell across Monroe county from May 1-2.

7. Jul 4, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One barn was blown down and two other barns suffered roof damage.

8. Mar 1, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State officials reported multiple trees and power lines down in the area due to severe thunderstorm winds.

9. Mar 1, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State officials reported several trees and power lines down in the area.

10. Feb 6, 2008Tornado$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This EF3 tornado crossed into a wooded section of Monroe County from Allen County, and lifted near Highway 87 south of the town of Fountain Run. Several outbuildings were destroyed and a car was flipped on Circle D Lane. On Akersville Road, fences were downed and about 200,000 log feet of timber were knocked down.

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

109°FJul 18, 1986

All-time low

−19°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

81°FJun 13, 2022

Coldest day

−6°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

6.15 inAug 30, 2005

Snowiest day

11.0 inMar 23, 1968

Hottest year

1998mean 61.0°F

Coldest year

1976mean 55.0°F

Wettest year

201969.90 in

Driest year

200735.88 in

Snowiest season

24.4 in1967-68

Station Barren Rvr Lake (USC00150422), 615 ft elevation, 25.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 to October 23, 2026; 96.8% 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.

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 USC00150422.
• 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.