Tornado Climatology of Franklin County

March 25, 1964
Counties:  Franklin
F-scale:  F1
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  10 yards
Path length:  1/10 mile
Time:  6:00pm
Grazulis narrative:  A small tornado demolished a barn and carried the barn timbers a half mile away from the barn site.
Noted discrepancies:  SPC/NCDC call this an F1, Grazulis says F2.  SPC gives a path length of 1/10 of a mile and a width of 10 yards...NCDC and Grazulis give nothing for either.  The lat/lon pair for this tornado listed by SPC/NCDC put it in southern Floyd County Indiana.  Grazulis lists the tornado in Franklin County but gives no location or path length.   If SPC/NCDC's lat/lon is changed from -85.92 to -84.92, it is placed in Franklin County.  More research would be nice, to confirm its location and to get a better handle on path width and length.

April 3, 1974
Counties:  Anderson, Franklin, Scott KY
F-scale:  F4
Deaths:  4
Injuries:  122
Path width:  800 yards
Path length:
Time:  4:50pm
Grazulis narrative:  Moved northeast near Alton, passing along the south and southeast edge of Frankfort, where homes were leveled and four people were killed.  About 120 homes were damaged or destroyed near Frankfort, as were businesses and factories.  Twelve homes were destroyed near Alton.  The funnel passed near Stamping Ground and lifted near Sadieville.
Noted discrepancies:  NCDC does not give a liftoff lat/lon.  SPC gives a path length of 79 miles...NCDC gives 81 miles (including 54 miles in Scott County, which is impossible), and Grazulis gives 36 miles.  NCDC/SPC start this tornado on the western Anderson County line west of Gee...Grazulis starts it in Anderson County but farther east at Alton.  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards,  NCDC 30 yards, Grazulis 800 yards.   Grazulis probably has the most correct path width.  For this mapping project we used the official start/stop lat/lons, but further research is needed to verify.  (The ending lat/lon given by NCDC for the Franklin County portion of the track is wrong.)

June 29, 1979
Counties:  Franklin, Scott KY, Harrison KY
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:
Injuries:  7
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  6:00pm
Noted discrepancies:  SPC and NCDC list this as an F2, Grazulis does not list it.  NCDC's county-by-county lat/lons result in a very strange path.  Will use more logical SPC lat/lons for plotting.  Storm Data has this tornado touch down four miles north of Frankfort and moves it to Georgetown and near Cynthiana.  Further research would be good, to confirm this tornado's track.

March 20, 1982
Counties:  Shelby, Franklin
F-scale:  F2
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  200 yards
Path length:  20 miles
Time:  7:00pm
Grazulis narrative:  Moved east-northeast from Southville to east of Waddy.  A dozen barns, two trailers, and several other buildings were destroyed in the Southville area.  Homes were struck in Waddy.
Noted discrepancies:  Grazulis ends this tornado just inside the Franklin County line, but SPC and NCDC take it all the way to Frankfort.  Storm Data has this tornado hit Southville,  KY 714, and Waddy.  Will plot with official lat/lon but additional research would be nice.

September 14, 1984
Counties:  Franklin
F-scale:  F0
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  2:30pm
Noted discrepancies:  None

April 15, 1994
Counties:  Franklin
F-scale:  F0
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  9:45am
Noted discrepancies:  Not listed at NCDC.

May 14, 1995
Counties:  Franklin
F-scale:  F0
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:
Path length:  4.5 miles (skipping)
Time:  2:00am
Notes:  Though local news accounts reported "heavy damage in western Franklin County," the first specific point of damage this project has been able to find so far has been at the Capital City Airport, so will begin the track there.  The tornado skipped eastward, damaging the Juniper Hills Golf Course and blowing the roof off of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System building on Versailles Road.  It is interesting to note that if a line is drawn connecting those three damage points, the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion were in the direct path of this tornado, and the funnel cloud associated with the tornado may have gone directly over those two landmarks.
Noted discrepancies:  NCDC and Storm Data give no F-scale ranking for this tornado.

February 6, 2008
Counties:  Franklin
EF-scale:  EF1
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:  170 yards
Path length:  2.4 miles
Time:  1:08am EST to 1:12am EST
Notes: Numerous hardwood trees were downed on a steep ridge near Elkhorn Creek.  The tornado increased in intensity as it moved to the northeast, and did extensive roof damage to two homes on the west side of Lucas Lane.  It destroyed five barns on the east side of the road.

April 20, 2011
Counties:  Franklin
EF-Scale:  EF-0
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width: 30 yards
Path length:  4.7 miles
Time:  1:28am EDT
Notes:  This tornado began on the south side of Frankfort and tracked to the northeast.  It damaged several trees and knocked shingles off of houses.  The most intense damage was found near Frankfort Cemetery and the Kentucky State Capitol.