Boone County, Kentucky

What hazards hit Boone County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 218 since 1958. The rank column places the county among Kentucky's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Boone County had?

NOAA records 18 tornadoes in Boone County from 1956 to 2026, the strongest rated F5, with 0 deaths and 41 injuries recorded in the county. That is 9th of 118 Kentucky counties and 242nd of 3,080 U.S. counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 16 tornadoes whose track touched Boone County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 18: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 4 people, 0 of them in Boone County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Kentucky.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Boone County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the June 17, 2026 tornado ($250,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

The first evidence of the tornado was found on Landings Way where several trees were snapped at their trunks. Farther east, along Oakbrook Road near Pleasant Valley Road, additional tree damage was found along with minor damage to building fascia. The tornado proceeded east through residential areas of Oakbrook near Sentry Drive and Thunder Ridge Drive where a few larger hardwood trees were snapped and minor roof damage was noted. The tornado progressed east, uprooting trees and snapping tree trunks along Hopeful Road, Surfwood Drive, and Rosetta Drive. The tornado then crossed Interstate 71/75 where it lifted a portion of the roof of one commercial building and caused additional roof damage to a second building. A large power pole was snapped near the intersection of U.S. Route 42 and Dream Street and a local business had its sign destroyed. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1340869)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Boone County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Winter storms in the 2010s: 75 records against 15 in the decade before, 75 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Boone County days with a record above.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Boone County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Boone County

FEMA's register lists 13 declarations that include Boone County: 7 major disasters, 6 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (5) and biological (2).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Boone County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 71 flood or flash flood records for Boone County from 1996 to 2025, on 60 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Boone County ranks 1784th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $372,000 on 39 claims filed in Boone County; the most in one year was 9 in 1997. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Boone County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Boone County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $49.5 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Boone County

1. Hamilton County, OH 1,159
2. Boone County 558
3. Dearborn County, IN 473
4. Kenton County 401
5. Grant County 320
6. Switzerland County, IN 284
7. Gallatin County 280
8. Ohio County, IN 249

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in KentuckyEvery Kentucky tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in KentuckyThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Kentucky recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Boone CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Boone County's FEMA declarations (CSV)13 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis