Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation

Whitley County had the highest annual precipitation of 120 counties in 2017, at 57.5 inches. Henderson County had the lowest, at 39.55 inches. The median was 50.28 inches and the figure for Kentucky was 50.26 inches. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest57.5Whitley County
Lowest39.55Henderson County
Median50.28120 counties
Kentucky50.26History

Map of counties, 2017

Adair County: 53.08 inchesAllen County: 54.47 inchesAnderson County: 50.39 inchesBallard County: 43.82 inchesBarren County: 54.36 inchesBath County: 50.68 inchesBell County: 54.25 inchesBoone County: 52.3 inchesBourbon County: 47.45 inchesBoyd County: 46.39 inchesBoyle County: 46.11 inchesBracken County: 47.2 inchesBreathitt County: 48.9 inchesBreckinridge County: 50.28 inchesBullitt County: 53.62 inchesButler County: 54.07 inchesCaldwell County: 44.9 inchesCalloway County: 50.77 inchesCampbell County: 49.55 inchesCarlisle County: 43.24 inchesCarroll County: 55.1 inchesCarter County: 45.85 inchesCasey County: 51.13 inchesChristian County: 50.28 inchesClark County: 49.78 inchesClay County: 51.35 inchesClinton County: 56.75 inchesCrittenden County: 44.15 inchesCumberland County: 54.19 inchesDaviess County: 44.16 inchesEdmonson County: 53.49 inchesElliott County: 46.9 inchesEstill County: 52.65 inchesFayette County: 48.96 inchesFleming County: 50.44 inchesFloyd County: 46.25 inchesFranklin County: 49.78 inchesFulton County: 45.74 inchesGallatin County: 53.63 inchesGarrard County: 49.55 inchesGrant County: 51.86 inchesGraves County: 44.04 inchesGrayson County: 52.47 inchesGreen County: 52.96 inchesGreenup County: 43.47 inchesHancock County: 48.1 inchesHardin County: 54.28 inchesHarlan County: 53.26 inchesHarrison County: 47.34 inchesHart County: 54.32 inchesHenderson County: 39.55 inchesHenry County: 52.54 inchesHickman County: 44.08 inchesHopkins County: 47.61 inchesJackson County: 51.37 inchesJefferson County: 49.01 inchesJessamine County: 49.58 inchesJohnson County: 45.79 inchesKenton County: 51.18 inchesKnott County: 47.66 inchesKnox County: 56.45 inchesLarue County: 56.25 inchesLaurel County: 52.53 inchesLawrence County: 48.37 inchesLee County: 51.2 inchesLeslie County: 50.26 inchesLetcher County: 49.46 inchesLewis County: 46.49 inchesLincoln County: 49.81 inchesLivingston County: 42.7 inchesLogan County: 56.16 inchesLyon County: 44.87 inchesMcCracken County: 43.44 inchesMcCreary County: 57.37 inchesMcLean County: 43.8 inchesMadison County: 50.18 inchesMagoffin County: 46.64 inchesMarion County: 51.23 inchesMarshall County: 44.09 inchesMartin County: 51.04 inchesMason County: 48.45 inchesMeade County: 48.77 inchesMenifee County: 52.4 inchesMercer County: 48.85 inchesMetcalfe County: 53.12 inchesMonroe County: 55.5 inchesMontgomery County: 50.82 inchesMorgan County: 48.11 inchesMuhlenberg County: 53.39 inchesNelson County: 53.99 inchesNicholas County: 48.51 inchesOhio County: 51.25 inchesOldham County: 50.81 inchesOwen County: 52.27 inchesOwsley County: 49.39 inchesPendleton County: 49.54 inchesPerry County: 48.66 inchesPike County: 49.4 inchesPowell County: 53.97 inchesPulaski County: 52.21 inchesRobertson County: 47.92 inchesRockcastle County: 52.36 inchesRowan County: 49.67 inchesRussell County: 55.02 inchesScott County: 48.64 inchesShelby County: 51.05 inchesSimpson County: 55.47 inchesSpencer County: 51.92 inchesTaylor County: 52.7 inchesTodd County: 54.29 inchesTrigg County: 49.74 inchesTrimble County: 55.8 inchesUnion County: 40.7 inchesWarren County: 53.62 inchesWashington County: 50.26 inchesWayne County: 55.49 inchesWebster County: 44.07 inchesWhitley County: 57.5 inchesWolfe County: 50.66 inchesWoodford County: 49.96 inches
  • Under 46
  • 46 to 49
  • 49 to 50
  • 50 to 52
  • 52 to 54
  • 54 and over
inches, 2017. Source: NOAA NCEI, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2017

Whitley County: 57.5 inchesWhitley County57.5McCreary County: 57.37 inchesMcCreary County57.37Clinton County: 56.75 inchesClinton County56.75Knox County: 56.45 inchesKnox County56.45Larue County: 56.25 inchesLarue County56.25Logan County: 56.16 inchesLogan County56.16Trimble County: 55.8 inchesTrimble County55.8Monroe County: 55.5 inchesMonroe County55.5Wayne County: 55.49 inchesWayne County55.49Simpson County: 55.47 inchesSimpson County55.47Carroll County: 55.1 inchesCarroll County55.1Russell County: 55.02 inchesRussell County55.02Allen County: 54.47 inchesAllen County54.47Barren County: 54.36 inchesBarren County54.36Hart County: 54.32 inchesHart County54.32Todd County: 54.29 inchesTodd County54.29Hardin County: 54.28 inchesHardin County54.28Bell County: 54.25 inchesBell County54.25Cumberland County: 54.19 inchesCumberland County54.19Butler County: 54.07 inchesButler County54.07Nelson County: 53.99 inchesNelson County53.99Powell County: 53.97 inchesPowell County53.97Gallatin County: 53.63 inchesGallatin County53.63Bullitt County: 53.62 inchesBullitt County53.62Warren County: 53.62 inchesWarren County53.62Edmonson County: 53.49 inchesEdmonson County53.49Muhlenberg County: 53.39 inchesMuhlenberg County53.39Harlan County: 53.26 inchesHarlan County53.26Metcalfe County: 53.12 inchesMetcalfe County53.12Adair County: 53.08 inchesAdair County53.08Green County: 52.96 inchesGreen County52.96Taylor County: 52.7 inchesTaylor County52.7Estill County: 52.65 inchesEstill County52.65Henry County: 52.54 inchesHenry County52.54Laurel County: 52.53 inchesLaurel County52.53Grayson County: 52.47 inchesGrayson County52.47Menifee County: 52.4 inchesMenifee County52.4Rockcastle County: 52.36 inchesRockcastle County52.36Boone County: 52.3 inchesBoone County52.3Owen County: 52.27 inchesOwen County52.27Whitley County: 57.5 inchesWhitley County57.5McCreary County: 57.37 inchesMcCreary County57.37Clinton County: 56.75 inchesClinton County56.75Knox County: 56.45 inchesKnox County56.45Larue County: 56.25 inchesLarue County56.25Logan County: 56.16 inchesLogan County56.16Trimble County: 55.8 inchesTrimble County55.8Monroe County: 55.5 inchesMonroe County55.5Wayne County: 55.49 inchesWayne County55.49Simpson County: 55.47 inchesSimpson County55.47Carroll County: 55.1 inchesCarroll County55.1Russell County: 55.02 inchesRussell County55.02Allen County: 54.47 inchesAllen County54.47Barren County: 54.36 inchesBarren County54.36Hart County: 54.32 inchesHart County54.32Todd County: 54.29 inchesTodd County54.29Hardin County: 54.28 inchesHardin County54.28Bell County: 54.25 inchesBell County54.25Cumberland County: 54.19 inchesCumberland County54.19Butler County: 54.07 inchesButler County54.07Nelson County: 53.99 inchesNelson County53.99Powell County: 53.97 inchesPowell County53.97Gallatin County: 53.63 inchesGallatin County53.63Bullitt County: 53.62 inchesBullitt County53.62Warren County: 53.62 inchesWarren County53.62Edmonson County: 53.49 inchesEdmonson County53.49Muhlenberg County: 53.39 inchesMuhlenberg County53.39Harlan County: 53.26 inchesHarlan County53.26Metcalfe County: 53.12 inchesMetcalfe County53.12Adair County: 53.08 inchesAdair County53.08Green County: 52.96 inchesGreen County52.96Taylor County: 52.7 inchesTaylor County52.7Estill County: 52.65 inchesEstill County52.65Henry County: 52.54 inchesHenry County52.54Laurel County: 52.53 inchesLaurel County52.53Grayson County: 52.47 inchesGrayson County52.47Menifee County: 52.4 inchesMenifee County52.4Rockcastle County: 52.36 inchesRockcastle County52.36Boone County: 52.3 inchesBoone County52.3Owen County: 52.27 inchesOwen County52.27
inches. Source: NOAA NCEI, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2017
inches
Change on 2016
1Whitley County57.5+16%
2McCreary County57.37+19.1%
3Clinton County56.75+9.3%
4Knox County56.45+11.3%
5Larue County56.25+23.6%
6Logan County56.16+0.4%
7Trimble County55.8+23.4%
8Monroe County55.5+7.2%
9Wayne County55.49+9.7%
10Simpson County55.47+2.9%
11Carroll County55.1+17%
12Russell County55.02-0.9%
13Allen County54.47+3.7%
14Barren County54.36+5.3%
15Hart County54.32+8.8%
16Todd County54.29-2.7%
17Hardin County54.28+20.5%
18Bell County54.25+6.5%
19Cumberland County54.19+3.7%
20Butler County54.07+1.8%
21Nelson County53.99+10.7%
22Powell County53.97+8.7%
23Gallatin County53.63+10.2%
24Bullitt County53.62+13%
24Warren County53.62+3.8%
26Edmonson County53.490%
27Muhlenberg County53.39-0.7%
28Harlan County53.26+3.2%
29Metcalfe County53.12+4.2%
30Adair County53.08-0.6%
31Green County52.96+11%
32Taylor County52.7+5.7%
33Estill County52.65+6.8%
34Henry County52.54+8.8%
35Laurel County52.53+9.4%
36Grayson County52.47-2.8%
37Menifee County52.4+10.6%
38Rockcastle County52.36+8.2%
39Boone County52.3+13.8%
40Owen County52.27+7.6%
41Pulaski County52.21+5.9%
42Spencer County51.92+3.6%
43Grant County51.86+9.3%
44Jackson County51.37+6.3%
45Clay County51.35+4.2%
46Ohio County51.25-2.4%
47Marion County51.23+3.8%
48Lee County51.2+3.3%
49Kenton County51.18+11.9%
50Casey County51.13+1.5%
51Shelby County51.05+2.1%
52Martin County51.04+10%
53Montgomery County50.82+12.4%
54Oldham County50.81+5.1%
55Calloway County50.77+0.4%
56Bath County50.68+13.7%
57Wolfe County50.66+2.6%
58Fleming County50.44+17.5%
59Anderson County50.39+1.6%
60Breckinridge County50.28+0.1%
60Christian County50.28-9.8%
62Leslie County50.26-3.1%
62Washington County50.26+0.4%
64Madison County50.18+5.6%
65Woodford County49.96+5.2%
66Lincoln County49.81+5.4%
67Clark County49.78+10.1%
67Franklin County49.78+3.9%
69Trigg County49.74-11.3%
70Rowan County49.67+13.9%
71Jessamine County49.58+4.4%
72Campbell County49.55+9.6%
72Garrard County49.55+4.1%
74Pendleton County49.54+9.7%
75Letcher County49.46+5.6%
76Pike County49.4+4%
77Owsley County49.39+1.5%
78Jefferson County49.01+2.1%
79Fayette County48.96+8.8%
80Breathitt County48.9-2.7%
81Mercer County48.85+0.6%
82Meade County48.77+5.1%
83Perry County48.66-4.6%
84Scott County48.64+8.5%
85Nicholas County48.51+15.6%
86Mason County48.45+14.2%
87Lawrence County48.37+6.8%
88Morgan County48.11+6.2%
89Hancock County48.1-2.5%
90Robertson County47.92+14.8%
91Knott County47.66-3.2%
92Hopkins County47.61-18%
93Bourbon County47.45+13.1%
94Harrison County47.34+11.4%
95Bracken County47.2+10.9%
96Elliott County46.9+9.2%
97Magoffin County46.64-0.2%
98Lewis County46.49+13.9%
99Boyd County46.39+6.4%
100Floyd County46.25+2.8%
101Boyle County46.11+1.1%
102Carter County45.85+13.2%
103Johnson County45.79+3.9%
104Fulton County45.74-3.6%
105Caldwell County44.9-18.5%
106Lyon County44.87-18.5%
107Daviess County44.16-11.3%
108Crittenden County44.15-19%
109Marshall County44.09-14.6%
110Hickman County44.08-9.2%
111Webster County44.07-21.1%
112Graves County44.04-10.3%
113Ballard County43.82-15.3%
114McLean County43.8-15.6%
115Greenup County43.47+20.6%
116McCracken County43.44-13.8%
117Carlisle County43.24-15.1%
118Livingston County42.7-21.4%
119Union County40.7-19.8%
120Henderson County39.55-18.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Total precipitation from January to December, in inches: rain plus the water content of snow and other frozen precipitation. NOAA computes it from its climate divisional dataset (nClimDiv): station readings interpolated onto a 5 km grid and averaged over the area.

Values are area averages, not the reading at one weather station. NOAA revises the last two years every month.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2026). NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties (Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping

MLA 9

NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties, Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 6 Oct. 2026, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. 2026. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017.

Harvard

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2026) NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties, Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{noaa_counties_in_kentucky_by_2017,
  author = {{NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information}},
  title = {{NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties: Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Publisher attribution: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
TI  - NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties: Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
PB  - NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/kentucky-counties?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  - 
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in Kentucky by annual precipitation using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"precipitation_annual","level":"province","within":"Kentucky","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=precipitation_annual&level=province&within=Kentucky&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest annual precipitation?

Whitley County, with 57.5 inches in 2017, according to NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Which county has the lowest annual precipitation?

Henderson County, with 39.55 inches in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, counties. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Annual precipitation: other rankings

Counties in Kentucky: more rankings