Live
Active alerts for this county
Heat Advisory
Orange; Washington; Scott; Jefferson; Dubois; Crawford; Perry; Harrison; Floyd; Clark; Hancock; Breckinridge; Meade; Ohio; Grayson; Hardin; Bullitt; Jefferson; Oldham; Trimble; Henry; Shelby; Franklin; Scott; Harrison; Spencer; Anderson; Woodford; Fayette; Bourbon; Nicholas; Nelson; Washington; Mercer; Jessamine; Clark; Larue; Marion; Boyle; Garrard; Madison; Butler; Edmonson; Hart; Green; Taylor; Casey; Lincoln; Logan; Warren; Simpson; Allen; Barren; Monroe; Metcalfe; Adair; Russell; Cumberland; Clinton
Boyle County, Kentucky severe weather history spans 177 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 57.1% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,571 nationally and #103 in Kentucky.
177
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
45
Direct injuries
$1.9M
Property damage
The record
What the Boyle County, Kentucky severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Boyle County, Kentucky severe weather history averages 2.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 56 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 43 events fall before 1990 and 134 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Boyle County, Kentucky record is tornado, responsible for 1 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $1.0M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Boyle County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 101 | 0 | $152K | 70 | 1957–2024 |
| Hail | 39 | 0 | $130K | 3 | 1975–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 18 | 0 | $565K | 0 | 1996–2021 |
| Tornado | 12 | 1 | $1.0M | F3 | 1971–2025 |
| Flood | 5 | 0 | $22K | 0 | 2013–2025 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | $5K | 0 | 2010–2010 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2018–2018 |
Decade by decade
Boyle County, Kentucky severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
11 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 9 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974-04-03 | EF3 | 1 | 98 | 21.1 mi | Crossed in |
| 2025-05-30 | EF2 | 1 | 14 | 5.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 2021-12-11 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1974-04-03 | EF2 | 0 | 10 | 16.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2023-01-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 3.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2018-04-03 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1980-07-02 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 5.6 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Boyle County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 1974 | Tornado | 1 | 33 | $0 | |
| Apr 4, 1974 | Tornado | 0 | 10 | $250K | |
| May 17, 1990 | Thunderstorm Wind | 0 | 2 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A small tornado touched down from a supercell thunderstorm on top of a tall hill along Highway 1822 and quickly destroyed one large barn used to store hay, severely damaging another medium sized barn, and destroyed fencing. The tornado did some damage to a grain silo along with some tree damage. An antique horse sled was picked up and moved about 10 feet. ||The tornado briefly lifted in a valley before striking a residence on the east side of Highway 1822 and lifting the roof off a family residence. Insulation from the roof was thrown eastward and also rotated back and covered the back of the house. ||Further east on Webster Rd, another one story family residence sustained significant roof, gutter, and siding damage. The owners hoop barn was pushed in violently. There were pine trees snapped. ||The NWS would like to thank emergency management director Mike Wilder as well as Garrard County ARES director Jim Boyd for their assistance.
The time of occurrence is estimated; the fire department arrived on the scene approximately 630 PM. Lightning struck several hundred yards from three homes near the 5500 block of Lebanon Road. The lightning followed an underground phone line into the homes, carving a trench as it traveled through the ground, and blowing out large sections of driveway. It also damaged a buried water line. The homes themselves suffered only minor, if any, damage, and there were no injuries.
An NWS damage survey team determined that an EF2 tornado with peak winds of 125 mph, maximum width of 450 yards, and track length of 5.55 miles initially touched down on the morning of Friday, May 30th in southeastern Washington County, Kentucky.||As the tornado crossed into Boyle County, some hardwoods were noted to be snapped north of Cocanougher Road,|and again in a grove of trees north of White Road. The final |damage point was noted along Battlefield Road about 1.25 miles NNW|of Perryville, were some hardwoods were uprooted and softwoods |were snapped. From here the tornado lifted.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
30,941
Population (ACS)
$210K
Median home value
21
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2026 | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Apr 3, 2025 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM |
| Apr 10, 2023 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR |
| Mar 31, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR |
| Mar 28, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Boyle County, Kentucky?
177 events are on record between 1957 and 2025, causing 1 direct deaths and $1.9M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Boyle County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 101 recorded events — 57.1% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Boyle County?
11 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 9 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Boyle County?
21 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Boyle County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Boyle County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Boyle County as very low risk, placing it in the 42 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Boyle County, Kentucky severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Boyd County 271
- Bracken County 188
- Bourbon County 213
- Breathitt County 566
- Boone County 380
- Breckinridge County 349
Cite this page
“Boyle County, Kentucky.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/kentucky/boyle-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.