Tornado in Kentucky
Every tornado event the National Weather Service has filed in Kentucky, year by year, with the most significant episodes. A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
The most significant on the map
The most significant tornado episodes in Kentucky.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 1,497
- Deaths
- 246
- Injuries
- 3,784
- Damage
- $1.1 billion
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, April 3, 1974Moved from northwest of Elizabethtown, doing damage on the north side of town. Moving into Nelson County, produced significant damage near Cox's Creek where the Whitney Horse Farm was damaged, crossing Lilly Pike where several homes, barns, and trailers were demolished, across…
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, December 10 to 11, 2021On the evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a potent storm system moving across the central United States resulted in significant long-track tornadoes.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, March 2 to 3, 2012During the afternoon and evening hours of March 2nd, 2012, an historic tornado outbreak occurred in eastern Kentucky. Tornadoes struck Menifee, Morgan, Bath, Wolfe, Laurel, Johnson and Martin Counties causing a combined 16 deaths in those counties.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, April 23, 1968
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, December 10 to 11, 2021Strong southern winds brought warm temperatures and plenty of moisture into an environment of strong wind shear ahead of an advancing cold front.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, May 16 to 17, 2025Eastern Kentucky experienced multiple rounds of severe weather from May 16th into the early morning hours of May 17th.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, April 27, 1971
- Tornadoes and Flood in Kentucky, March 2, 2012Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon in a high wind shear environment ahead of a strengthening low pressure system. Many of these storms became severe, with large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds, and tornadoes all being the main threats.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, February 5 to 6, 2008A 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.
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, March 4, 1964
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, February 5, 2008A deepening low pressure system moved northeast from Arkansas along a warm front that extended across southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. Surface dew points were in the upper 50's to lower 60's along and southeast of the warm front.
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, February 15 to 17, 2025A strong storm system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on February 15th and 16th, 2025, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding, severe weather, and winter weather to central Kentucky.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, April 2 to 6, 2025On the night of April 2nd, 2025, a cold front approached the lower Ohio Valley. Along and ahead of the cold front, numerous supercells developed over southern Illinois and western Kentucky.
- Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Kentucky, June 9, 1961
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, March 10, 1986
- Tornadoes in Kentucky, April 16, 1998A series of three tornadoes cut a long path of destruction across south central Kentucky during the late afternoon and early evening of April 16. Three people were killed, two in Barren county and one in Metcalfe, as the tornadoes moved through.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, May 26 to 27, 2024The second major severe weather outbreak for the month occurred on the 26th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a shortwave trough centered in the middle of the country with a 60 kt mid-level jet moved across northern Arkansas.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, May 18, 1995The F2 tornado began in Mayo in Central Mercer County and produced consistent high F1 to low F2 tornado damage across Mercer and Southern Woodford Counties.
- Tornado in Kentucky, November 15, 2005This violent tornado reached its peak intensity on the north side of Earlington, near the beginning of its track. Peak winds there were estimated near 220 MPH. Several houses in this area, on either side of U.S. Highway 41, were levelled.
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, May 1 to 16, 2010A stalled cold front over the Mississippi Valley spawned thunderstorms producing heavy rain from northern Mississippi through middle Tennessee and central Kentucky into southern Indiana.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, February 24 to 25, 2011A powerful mid-level shortwave trough ejected east-northeast across the southern Plains, reaching the lower and mid Mississippi Valley during the night.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kentucky, May 14, 1995Large trees were downed.
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, April 3, 1968
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, January 21, 1959
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kentucky, May 8, 2009A long-lived bow echo that had produced widespread wind damage over southern Illinois moved east into Kentucky during the late morning hours.
More
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.