Meade County, Kentucky

What hazards hit Meade County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 178 since 1959. 42% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1959 fell in June and July. 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 Meade County had?

NOAA records 17 tornadoes in Meade County from 1974 to 2026, the strongest rated F5, with 31 deaths and 268 injuries recorded in the county. That is 26th of 118 Kentucky 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 Meade County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 17: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 32 people, 31 of them in Meade 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 Meade County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the November 18, 2017 tornado (1 injury and $241,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

The tornado touched down just inside the Breckinridge-Meade County line north of Irvington. It pushed a large tobacco barn 15 feet eastward, tore off its roof, and collapsed several walls. Debris from the barn was scattered over a half mile downwind. The tornado moved east-northeast, skipping along a wooded area where several trees were snapped or uprooted, then hit a mobile home on Fackler Road, rolling the anchored unit several times, destroying the home. The owner sustained only minor injuries as he rolled over with his house, crawling out of a hole after it settled. A garage on the property was also destroyed. The tornado continued skipping along the northwest side of Sandy Hill Rd, damaging outbuildings on another farm, before crossing KY highway 261 at Guston Rd. A split level home on Guston Rd had part of its roof removed, with insulation spattered on the lee side of the home. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 723098)

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 Meade 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: 18 records against 6 in the decade before, 18 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 Meade 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?

42% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1959 fell in June and July. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Meade County

FEMA's register lists 25 declarations that include Meade County: 18 major disasters, 7 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (14) and tornado (4).

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 Meade County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 31 flood or flash flood records for Meade County from 1996 to 2026, on 25 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Meade County ranks 2128th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $803,000 on 18 claims filed in Meade County; the most in one year was 4 in 2025. 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 Meade County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Meade County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $12.9 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 Meade County

1. Hardin County 543
2. Harrison County, IN 467
3. Crawford County, IN 405
4. Breckinridge County 403
5. Meade County 330
6. Perry County, IN 291

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 Meade CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Meade County's FEMA declarations (CSV)25 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis