Oldham County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Oldham 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 (8).

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. Mar 2, 1997Flood, Oldham$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record rainfalls from late Friday evening February 28 through Sunday morning March 2 and additional heavy rainfall on Tuesday March 4 caused the worst flooding on the Ohio River since 1964 and in some spots since 1937. Damage attributed to river flooding alone was at 115 million across Jefferson county Kentucky bringing the total damage across the county to 200 million including the earlier flash flooding and flooding. McAlpine Lock at Louisville climbed over flood stage late Sunday evening March 2 and crested at 38.8 feet on the upper gauge (flood stage is 23 feet) at 5 am est March 7 and on the lower gauge at 70.6 feet (flood stage is 55 feet) at 6 pm est on March 7. At other…

2. Jun 22, 1998Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An area of thunderstorms moved southeast across central Kentucky producing widespread wind damage and spotty large hail. Barns were blown down in Stanford and Russell Springs, while trees fell on houses in LaGrange and Columbia injuring 2 in LaGrange and trapping a family in Columbia. Lightning caused a fire in Wesport that completely destroyed a house. Also, bridges were washed out in Westport and several locations in Trimble county, while several roads were under water across these and a few other counties .

3. Apr 28, 2017Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed in a new subdivision in Goshen, KY. The tornado traveled along a 1 mile path to the ENE. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along the path. A couple of houses and two church buildings sustained roof damage. Power lines and power poles were downed along the path as well.

4. May 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous thunderstorms developed near and north of the Ohio River by late afternoon and dropped south and east across central Kentucky producing widespread severe weather. A brief F2 tornado touched down at Pellyton producing heavy damage to a brick house and destroying several mobile homes. Meanwhile, Marion, Taylor, Russell and Adair counties had widespread flash flooding with numerous roads under water, a few bridges washed out and cars washed away and water entering many homes and businesses. Five families in Calvary in Marion county were forced from their homes due to the high waters. Otherwise, severe thunderstorm winds knocked down numerous trees and power lines across the…

5. Apr 12, 2019Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado tracked 8.3 miles across Oldham County with a maximum path width of 300 yards. The tornado mostly did damage to the upper halves of several trees along its path. There were a couple of areas where it fully descended to the surface and caused more widespread damage. Along Shelburn Dr, a front porch with four columns was lifted, collapsing the columns and throwing the front half of the roof 100 yards to the northeast. The last visible damage was on Georgie Way, occurring 9 minutes after the start time.

6. Aug 31, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local media reports of multiple trees and power lines downed were confirmed by a damage survey along State Highway 146 between Buckner and La Grange. The survey found two enhanced damage paths brought about by wet microbursts. The first damage swath was noted along a two mile path along State Highway 146 south of Buckner. Estimated winds of 70 to 75 mph knocked down numerous trees, large limbs, power poles, electrical lines, and caused some roof damage to barns and homes. Several telephone poles were snapped along the railroad parallel to KY 146.||The second area of damage developed just downstream of the first area. Several trees were knocked over along State Highway 146 between…

7. Dec 23, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Oldham County law enforcement reported that a house fell off its stilts due to the severe thunderstorm winds.

8. Apr 29, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power poles were broken, reported by mPing.

9. Jun 26, 2018Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down at the entrance of Westport Woods Apartments in Jefferson County. After exiting the Forest Spring North subdivision, the tornado lifted briefly before dropping back down on the east side of Pewee Valley near Five Forks Drive. Near Manassas Drive a trampoline was thrown 60 yards and a large sycamore tree was uprooted next to an air conditioner that was thrown to the north. The tornado then increased in strength and uprooted several trees along Hawley Gibson Road. One resident lost twenty softwood and hardwood trees. The tornado lifted just east of Hawley Gibson Road, twisting several trees on a farm there.

10. May 1, 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.

All-time high

106°F2 times, most recently Jul 7, 2012

All-time low

−22°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

83°F3 times, most recently Jun 29, 2024

Coldest day

1°FJan 20, 1985

Wettest day

7.22 inMar 1, 1997

Snowiest day

15.5 inJan 17, 1994

Hottest year

2024mean 61.9°F

Coldest year

1960mean 54.5°F

Wettest year

201868.83 in

Driest year

195330.38 in

Snowiest season

50.1 in1977-78

Station Louisville International Airport (USW00093821), 480 ft elevation, 20.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00093821.
• 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.