Letcher County Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
The chance of earthquake damage in Letcher County is about the same as Kentucky average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Letcher County is much lower than Kentucky average and is much lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #75
| Letcher County | 0.05 |
| Kentucky | 0.24 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Letcher County | 0.0000 |
| Kentucky | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #104
| Letcher County | 17.10 |
| Kentucky | 136.89 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 13,344 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Letcher County were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 3 | Cold: | 98 | Dense Fog: | 30 | Drought: | 111 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 2,033 | Hail: | 3,003 | Heat: | 62 | Heavy Snow: | 276 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 54 | Landslide: | 4 | Strong Wind: | 164 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 6,776 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 26 | Winter Storm: | 118 | Winter Weather: | 134 |
| Other: | 452 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Letcher County.
Historical Earthquake Events
No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Letcher County.
No historical earthquake events found in or near Letcher County.
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 3 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Letcher County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 18.4 | 2009-05-08 | 2 | 37°04'N / 82°33'W | 37°04'N / 82°31'W | 2.00 Miles | 120 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Wise |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: An EF2 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 120 miles an hour occurred around five miles southeast of Pound, Virginia. Tornado damage was observed along the path which measured 1.7 mile in length with a path width of 120 yards. Two trailers along with several outbuildings were destroyed while one trailer was damaged. Numerous trees...some in clusters...were downed by the high wind speeds generated by the tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A highly organized mesoscale convective vorticity maximum with strong low to mid tropospheric flow coupled with moderate instability resulted in the development of discrete supercellular thunderstorms. These storms produced a long-lived tornado across Northeast Tennessee late in the afternoon and another long duration tornado across Southwest Virginia later in the evening. | |||||||||||
| 43.9 | 1955-03-05 | 2 | 36°28'N / 82°52'W | 36°30'N / 82°48'W | 4.30 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 6 | 250K | 0 | Hawkins |
| 47.4 | 1980-07-06 | 2 | 36°35'N / 83°15'W | 36°25'N / 83°13'W | 11.50 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Hancock |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.