Wayne County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Wayne County: 4.
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.

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.

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 (2).

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. Apr 11, 2008Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF2 tornado with maximum winds near 130 mph entered Wayne County from Clinton County along Pleasant Ridge Road. The tornado maintained a continuous 7 mile track east northeast before lifting 1.5 miles southwest of Monticello near Furnace Mountain.

2. Jun 23, 2019Lightning$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dispatch relayed a report of a lightning strike causing a tree to fall on a house and powerline in Monticello.

3. May 16, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$55,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree was blown down onto a mobile home, also causing electrical lines to fall on the home, in the 500 block of South Main Street in Monticello.

4. May 8, 2025Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple pictures on social media showed baseball sized hail in Monticello. One such photo and stone was near the intersection of State Highway 3285 and State Highway 776.

5. May 2, 2010Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF2 tornado touched down 1 mile south of Betsey in the Meadow Creek area. The tornado had a path length of 1/4 of a mile and a path width of 100 yards. The estimated wind speeds associated with the tornado were 110 to 120 mph. The tornado downed numerous trees. The twister also blew part of the roof off of a brick home, causing the corner of an outside wall to collapse.

6. Jan 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were blown down across roads throughout the county by winds estimated at 63 mph.

7. Feb 28, 2021Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado narrowed as it crossed from Clinton County (Louisville, KY County Warning Area) into Wayne County, with some straight line wind damage noted. The winds|generally were from the west to southwest surrounding the tornado.|The straight line winds of 65 to 75 mph damaged 2 barns.

8. Apr 3, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A cold front moved east from the Upper Midwest and the Central Plains on the afternoon of April 3rd. Very warm, moist, unstable air was in place over much of the region. A line of severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of the front, and plowed through many areas of Eastern Kentucky. This line of thunderstorms is also known as a squall line. Many reports of wind damage were received throughout Eastern Kentucky. Five tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in Eastern Kentucky. Two tornadoes were confirmed in Pulaski County, and also in Harlan County, with one tornado confirmed in Laurel County. For Harlan County, these were the first tornadoes ever recorded in the County.…

9. Jul 21, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and large limbs were blown down in the southern portion of the county.

10. Jul 21, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and large limbs were blown down, especially near Lake Cumberland.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Jul 2, 2012

All-time low

−26°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

73°FJun 30, 2024

Coldest day

0°FDec 24, 2022

Wettest day

5.00 inJan 30, 2010

Snowiest day

10.0 inJan 30, 1966

Hottest year

1999mean 56.9°F

Coldest year

1976mean 51.4°F

Wettest year

201182.48 in

Driest year

200041.07 in

Snowiest season

25.6 in1983-84

Station Oneida (USC00406829), 1,440 ft elevation, 29.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1959 to October 22, 2026; 94.4% 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 USC00406829.
• 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.