Mount Sterling Micro Area Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
The chance of earthquake damage in Mount Sterling Area is higher than Kentucky average and is lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Mount Sterling Area is lower than Kentucky average and is lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #104
| Mount Sterling Area | 1.00 |
| 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, #129
| Mount Sterling Area | 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, #617
| Mount Sterling Area | 93.03 |
| 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 14,846 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Mount Sterling Area 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: | 127 | Dense Fog: | 40 | Drought: | 74 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 2,609 | Hail: | 3,147 | Heat: | 97 | Heavy Snow: | 226 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 52 | Landslide: | 2 | Strong Wind: | 186 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 7,575 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 12 | Winter Storm: | 141 | Winter Weather: | 139 |
| Other: | 416 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Mount Sterling Area.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 1 historical earthquake event that had a recorded magnitude of 3.5 or above found in or near Mount Sterling Area.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 12.7 | 1980-07-27 | 5.1 | 8 | 38.17 | -83.91 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 44 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Mount Sterling Area.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 5.9 | 1974-04-03 | 3 | 37°59'N / 83°53'W | 38°02'N / 83°49'W | 4.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 2 | 250K | 0 | Montgomery |
| 11.8 | 1978-08-30 | 2 | 37°52'N / 83°49'W | 37°52'N / 83°43'W | 5.20 Miles | 800 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Powell |
| 16.7 | 1982-03-16 | 2 | 37°53'N / 84°01'W | 37°53'N / 83°57'W | 4.00 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Powell |
| 19.3 | 1982-03-16 | 2 | 37°54'N / 84°05'W | 37°53'N / 84°01'W | 4.00 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Clark |
| 21.9 | 1982-06-16 | 2 | 37°59'N / 84°14'W | 38°04'N / 84°04'W | 12.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 4 | 250K | 0 | Clark |
| 23.5 | 1974-04-03 | 4 | 37°53'N / 84°16'W | 38°02'N / 84°04'W | 15.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 8 | 0K | 0 | Clark |
| 24.6 | 1977-08-03 | 2 | 37°42'N / 83°55'W | 37°42'N / 83°52'W | 2.30 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Estill |
| 25.7 | 1961-06-09 | 3 | 37°40'N / 83°48'W | 37°40'N / 83°46'W | 1.30 Miles | 150 Yards | 1 | 25 | 2.5M | 0 | Lee |
| 25.9 | 1961-06-09 | 3 | 37°40'N / 83°50'W | 37°40'N / 83°48'W | 1.30 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 38 | 2.5M | 0 | Estill |
| 26.0 | 1964-06-15 | 2 | 38°24'N / 83°56'W | 38°25'N / 83°44'W | 10.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Fleming |
| 28.5 | 1982-06-16 | 2 | 38°24'N / 83°48'W | 38°30'N / 83°38'W | 10.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Fleming |
| 34.5 | 1964-06-15 | 2 | 38°20'N / 84°31'W | 38°24'N / 83°56'W | 31.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Scott |
| 36.1 | 1990-05-21 | 2 | 37°45'N / 84°18'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25.0M | 0 | Madison | |
| 37.0 | 2009-05-08 | 3 | 37°39'N / 84°27'W | 37°45'N / 84°06'W | 20.00 Miles | 150 Yards | 2 | 15 | 0K | 0K | Madison |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The tornado first touched down in the Nina Ridge Road area three miles ESE of McCreary in Garrard County. The tornado caused EF-1 damage at this location before strengthening to EF-2 just before entering Madison County. Near the intersection of Highways 1295 and 52 in Madison County, the tornado reached EF-3 intensity. Near this intersection, two adults were killed when the mobile home they were in was picked up and thrown by the tornado. The bodies were recovered from a nearby pond. Five other occupants of the mobile home, including three children, were injured. A female relative in a brick home just yards away from the mobile home received only minor injuries despite being pinned under a collapsed wall in the house. The tornado weakened and lifted at times as it continued east across the county, but still caused significant damage. It tore much of the roof off a fire station on the south side of Richmond before moving over the Bluegrass Army Depot toward the community of Waco in the eastern part of the county. After doing extensive damage to mainly roofs in a subdivision of brick homes near Waco, the tornado destroyed a mobile home in the area, carrying two teenage male occupants of the home through the air before dropping them near an elementary school 300 yards away. The teens miraculously received only minor injuries. The tornado weakened significantly from this point on, doing only minor roof damage and downing trees as it continued eastward before lifting near the end of Drowning Creek Road. The tornado was up to 150 yards wide with maximum estimated wind speeds up to 140 mph. Approximately 150 homes received damage, the most severe being several brick homes where only interior walls remained standing in the wake of the tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A long-lived bow echo that had produced widespread wind damage over southern Illinois moved east into Kentucky during the late morning hours. As it moved east, the system encountered a strengthening low-level jet across the Ohio Valley, which helped modify the motion of the line, resulting in training storms of extremely heavy rain that caused flash flooding. Individual storms developing ahead of the line continued to produce damaging winds, with two storms producing tornadoes, before the main area of convection moved through. NWS damage surveys determined the tornado in south-central Kentucky to be EF-1 in intensity, while the east-central Kentucky was ranked as a strong EF-3. The EF-3 tornado resulted in two fatalities and numerous injuries. | |||||||||||
| 37.6 | 1974-04-03 | 2 | 37°50'N / 84°26'W | 37°53'N / 84°22'W | 4.70 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Madison |
| 37.7 | 1974-04-03 | 4 | 37°44'N / 84°29'W | 37°53'N / 84°16'W | 15.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 7 | 20 | 0K | 0 | Madison |
| 38.9 | 1967-05-07 | 3 | 38°36'N / 83°42'W | 2.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Mason | |
| 39.1 | 1972-09-29 | 2 | 37°54'N / 83°03'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 3 | 25K | 0 | Morgan | |
| 39.1 | 2008-02-06 | 2 | 38°21'N / 84°22'W | 38°22'N / 84°19'W | 3.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 1 | 500K | 200K | Harrison |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The tornado touched down near 812 Mt. Vernon Road, damaging a home and a barn at that location. Along Connersville Road, the tornado lifted the roofs off three homes and damaged three others. It also destroyed several barns and outbuildings, and snapped numerous hardwood trees. It damaged a few more barns and trees before lifting about a half mile southwest of Cynthiana. Several businesses in the city of Cynthiana had sign damage from 70 mph straight line winds. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A 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. | |||||||||||
| 39.2 | 1974-04-03 | 3 | 38°29'N / 84°11'W | 38°31'N / 84°09'W | 2.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Robertson |
| 39.6 | 1986-03-10 | 2 | 38°02'N / 84°30'W | 38°03'N / 84°27'W | 3.50 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 20 | 25.0M | 0 | Fayette |
| 39.6 | 1979-06-29 | 2 | 38°17'N / 84°27'W | 38°24'N / 84°17'W | 12.10 Miles | 40 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Harrison |
| 39.8 | 1974-04-03 | 3 | 38°20'N / 84°26'W | 38°29'N / 84°11'W | 17.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 27 | 25K | 0 | Harrison |
| 40.0 | 1981-06-09 | 2 | 38°37'N / 83°48'W | 38°37'N / 83°43'W | 4.10 Miles | 20 Yards | 0 | 7 | 2.5M | 0 | Mason |
| 40.2 | 2003-05-10 | 3 | 38°37'N / 83°43'W | 38°37'N / 83°38'W | 4.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 500K | 0 | Mason |
| Brief Description: The tornado touched down to the southeast of Maysville, continuing east-southeast into Lewis County. The greatest damage occurred in the Heron Hill area in western Lewis County. Seventeen people were injured in Lewis County. 21 homes were destroyed, 10 homes sustained major damage and 17 homes received minor damage. Numerous barns, buildings and garages were also damaged or destroyed. The tornado appeared to skip across parts of Mason and Lewis Counties. Tornado damage ended four miles to the southeast of Vanceburg. A warm front stalled along the Ohio River, providing the focus for several clusters of thunderstorms to move across northern Kentucky during the early morning, lasting into the afternoon. Rainfall amounts from the thunderstorms generally ranged from three to five inches. The copious amounts of rain caused creeks and streams to rise out of their banks, and many roads were flooded and impassible. | |||||||||||
| 40.7 | 1977-10-01 | 2 | 37°31'N / 83°53'W | 37°23'N / 83°43'W | 12.80 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Owsley |
| 41.4 | 2003-05-10 | 3 | 38°35'N / 83°37'W | 38°34'N / 83°12'W | 21.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 17 | 5.0M | 0 | Lewis |
| Brief Description: The tornado touched down to the southeast of Maysville, continuing east-southeast into Lewis County. The greatest damage occurred in the Heron Hill area in western Lewis County. Seventeen people were injured in Lewis County. 21 homes were destroyed, 10 homes sustained major damage and 17 homes received minor damage. Numerous barns, buildings and garages were also damaged or destroyed. The tornado appeared to skip across parts of Mason and Lewis Counties. Tornado damage ended four miles to the southeast of Vanceburg. A warm front stalled along the Ohio River, providing the focus for several clusters of thunderstorms to move across northern Kentucky during the early morning, lasting into the afternoon. Rainfall amounts from the thunderstorms generally ranged from three to five inches. The copious amounts of rain caused creeks and streams to rise out of their banks, and many roads were flooded and impassible. | |||||||||||
| 41.7 | 1967-03-12 | 2 | 37°41'N / 84°22'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Mccreary | |||
| 41.7 | 1955-03-04 | 3 | 37°43'N / 84°27'W | 37°40'N / 84°18'W | 8.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 2 | 250K | 0 | Madison |
| 42.0 | 2004-05-27 | 3 | 38°05'N / 84°32'W | 38°05'N / 84°30'W | 3.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 6 | 7.5M | 0 | Fayette |
| Brief Description: The tornado first touched down just east of Masterson Station Park on the subdivision road of Buck Lane. It continued east through the subdivision, causing F2 damage. The tornado then crossed an open field and creek, entering another subdivision. It appeared that the tornado reached its maximum F3 intensity in this section of the path. The tornado was on the ground intermittently as it moved to the east northeast. It struck a single house on State Road 1978, doing F2 damage. It crossed Georgetown Road and struck another subdivision near Citation Boulevard, doing F1 to F2 damage. It continued for a short distance into a field, and then lifted. There was straight line wind damage to the south of the tornado path, and additional straight line wind damage to the east after the tornado lifted. The tornado damaged 15 homes to some degree, and at least 50 home received moderate to severe damage. The hardest hit area was the Masterson Station subdivision. | |||||||||||
| 44.3 | 1996-04-20 | 2 | 37°34'N / 84°18'W | 37°34'N / 84°18'W | 2.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 10 | 12.8M | 0 | Madison |
| Brief Description: A tornado touched down on the on the East side of interstate 75 at the Ky 21 exit at 445 am est. There the tornado destroyed a Sunoco gasoline station and ripped the roof of a Howard Johnson's motel. The tornado moved East-Northeast across the South side of Berea to just East of Ky 25 before dissapating around 450 am est. The tornado damaged around 800 homes and 40 businesses. 35 houses were destroyed or eceived major damage, while 26 business were destroyed or received major damage. Home damage was estimated at 6.7 million dollars...while damage to businesses was estimated at 6.1 million dollars. There were only minor injuries reported with the most serious being a broken collar bone. The tornado caused a storage tank to topple on the Parker Seal plant which produces O-rings for the space shuttle mission. Also damaged were parts of Berea College. Most of the damage there was due to fallen and uprooted trees. The "Old Town" section of Berea, where craftspeople make and sell high quality furiniture and other goods saw several businesses badly damaged. The roof of the town's old train depot, now a tourist center, caved in. Many homes were reported as flattened. The Red Cross, Salvation Army and 130 members of the National Guard were sent to aid the cleanup effort. The National Weather Service storm survey the damage path revealed an F2 tornado embedded in straight-line winds. | |||||||||||
| 45.0 | 1972-08-19 | 2 | 37°34'N / 84°19'W | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Madison | |||
| 45.4 | 1968-04-23 | 2 | 37°52'N / 84°35'W | 37°54'N / 84°32'W | 3.30 Miles | 60 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Jessamine |
| 45.9 | 1974-04-03 | 4 | 37°43'N / 84°30'W | 37°44'N / 84°29'W | 1.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Garrard |
| 46.6 | 1974-04-03 | 4 | 38°14'N / 84°44'W | 37°30'N / 84°25'W | 53.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 37 | 250K | 0 | Scott |
| 47.1 | 2009-05-08 | 2 | 37°39'N / 84°28'W | 37°39'N / 84°27'W | 1.00 Mile | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Garrard |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The tornado first touched down in the Nina Ridge Road area three miles ESE of McCreary in Garrard County. The tornado caused EF-1 damage at this location before strengthening to EF-2 just before entering Madison County. Near the intersection of Highways 1295 and 52 in Madison County, the tornado reached EF-3 intensity. Near this intersection, two adults were killed when the mobile home they were in was picked up and thrown by the tornado. The bodies were recovered from a nearby pond. Five other occupants of the mobile home, including three children, were injured. A female relative in a brick home just yards away from the mobile home received only minor injuries despite being pinned under a collapsed wall in the house. The tornado weakened and lifted at times as it continued east across the county, but still caused significant damage. It tore much of the roof off a fire station on the south side of Richmond before moving over the Bluegrass Army Depot toward the community of Waco in the eastern part of the county. After doing extensive damage to mainly roofs in a subdivision of brick homes near Waco, the tornado destroyed a mobile home in the area, carrying two teenage male occupants of the home through the air before dropping them near an elementary school 300 yards away. The teens miraculously received only minor injuries. The tornado weakened significantly from this point on, doing only minor roof damage and downing trees as it continued eastward before lifting near the end of Drowning Creek Road. The tornado was up to 150 yards wide with maximum estimated wind speeds up to 140 mph. Approximately 150 homes received damage, the most severe being several brick homes where only interior walls remained standing in the wake of the tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A long-lived bow echo that had produced widespread wind damage over southern Illinois moved east into Kentucky during the late morning hours. As it moved east, the system encountered a strengthening low-level jet across the Ohio Valley, which helped modify the motion of the line, resulting in training storms of extremely heavy rain that caused flash flooding. Individual storms developing ahead of the line continued to produce damaging winds, with two storms producing tornadoes, before the main area of convection moved through. NWS damage surveys determined the tornado in south-central Kentucky to be EF-1 in intensity, while the east-central Kentucky was ranked as a strong EF-3. The EF-3 tornado resulted in two fatalities and numerous injuries. | |||||||||||
| 47.2 | 1974-04-03 | 2 | 38°14'N / 84°39'W | 38°18'N / 84°29'W | 10.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 20 | 2.5M | 0 | Scott |
| 47.2 | 1982-06-16 | 2 | 38°35'N / 83°20'W | 38°39'N / 83°14'W | 7.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Lewis |
| 47.9 | 1970-04-23 | 3 | 38°13'N / 84°36'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Scott | |
| 48.5 | 1954-06-01 | 2 | 37°17'N / 84°07'W | 37°27'N / 83°54'W | 16.40 Miles | 67 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Laurel |
| 48.5 | 1979-06-29 | 2 | 38°15'N / 84°44'W | 38°17'N / 84°27'W | 15.50 Miles | 40 Yards | 0 | 7 | 25K | 0 | Scott |
| 48.9 | 1968-04-23 | 2 | 38°43'N / 84°00'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Bracken | |||
| 48.9 | 1964-06-15 | 2 | 38°18'N / 84°38'W | 38°20'N / 84°31'W | 6.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Scott |
| 48.9 | 1956-07-19 | 2 | 38°42'N / 84°16'W | 38°42'N / 83°52'W | 21.40 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Pendleton |
* 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.