Russell County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Russell County: 2.
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.

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.

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 (9).

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 28, 1997Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F0 tornado touched down just inside the western part of the county line along Highway 55 and then moved northeast across Middletown and to the Half Acre community about 1 mile south of the Cumberland Parkway. A business was destroyed, two garages were heavily damaged, 10 houses had light to moderate roof damage, one storage building was damaged, three mobile homes were damaged and one destroyed. In addition, several signs, trees, utility poles and fences were down, and a vehicle was overturned.

2. Apr 3, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Boat storage structures were damaged near Jamestown. Outbuildings and barns were damaged. A tree was blown on to a mobile home. Numerous trees were down along Highway 379.

3. Feb 29, 2012Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado touched down just north of Russell Springs west of Route 127. The complete track of the tornado was 7.2 miles across Russell and Casey Counties. It intensified east of Route 127 with the worst damage occurring along a 1.5 mile stretch from Route 76 east over Oak Grove Road to Pattie Ridge Road. On Route 76, two mobile homes were totally destroyed and a modular built home was heavily damaged and moved off its foundation. The tornado tracked for a total of 5.8 miles before crossing the border into Casey County.||The tornado first touched down north of Russell Springs in northern Russell County west of Highway 127 where it did minor damage to trees, barns, and…

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

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

5. Jan 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a building.

6. May 17, 2002Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three vehicles were washed downstream at Russell Springs. There were no injuries.

7. Nov 16, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A boat storage building near the town of Russell Springs was partially destroyed. The roof of the building was blown off. Some 2 by 6 boards from the building were driven 18 inches deep into the ground. One boat in the building was destroyed, and several others were damaged. Numerous trees were downed.

8. May 27, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State officials reported numerous trees down along with a few power lines.

9. Jul 9, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A public report was received of trees down on cars in the area due to severe thunderstorm winds.

10. Jun 23, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    On June 23, like the events on June 21, large MCSs that originated in Kansas and Missouri continued traveling south and east while expanding. These systems took advantage of afternoon heating that fueled stronger lines and expanded stretching over multiple states. The result was severe damage that included downed trees and power lines in multiple Kentucky counties.||On June 24, another line of storms moved through central Kentucky ahead of a cold front. Only one report of damage was reported.

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.