BlockBefore

Clayhole, Kentucky

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Hardshell census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41348. It stands on Riley Branch. The Survey maps it on the Haddix quadrangle. It stands 807 feet above sea level.

Clayhole within Breathitt County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

246 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 246 fires within 5 miles of Clayhole between 1997 and 2020, burning about 19,692 acres in total. None started naturally. 64 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning104
Arson/incendiarism64
Missing data/not specified/undetermined63
Recreation and ceremony11
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 1998Smoking1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
7 September 2007Debris and open burning7.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
18 September 1999Arson/incendiarism10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
15 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 September 2002Recreation and ceremony300 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
30 June 2012Debris and open burning48 acresKentucky Division of ForestryBIG BRANCH
25 June 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryHWY 1178/L
6 May 2008Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Breathitt County

Storms near this place

11 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clayhole in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2009Thunderstorm WindClayhole$10,000A mobile home was destroyed by thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindClayhole$10,000Four trees and power lines were blown down on Highway 476. A tree was blown down on Highway 15 6 miles south of Jackson.
April 2025HailClayhole-Quarter sized hail was reported about 3 miles from KY-15 on KY-476 in the Clayhole community.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindClayhole-In addition to large hail, several trees were reported to have been downed along KY-476, about 3 miles from KY-15 in the Clayhole community, with power going out as a result.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindClayhole-A report on social media stated that a tree was downed and blocking the westbound lane of KY-476 between Flintville and Clayhole.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindClayhole-A tree was downed on Riley Branch blocking the roadway near the community of Clayhole.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindClayhole-A tree was blown down along KY-476 in the vicinity of Clayhole, approximately 3.5 miles from the highway's intersection with KY-15.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindClayhole-A tree was blown down and onto Riley Br Rd near Clayhole.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindClayhole-A tree was blown down and across Hwy 476.
May 2016HailClayhole-no account filed
July 1998HailClayhole-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Breathitt County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Flintville1.2 miles13
Lost Creek1.8 miles13
Watts1.8 miles13
Hardshell2.5 miles13
Haddix3.0 miles13
Kragon3.7 miles14
Copland3.9 miles13
Little3.9 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on ClayholeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14690235The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 507710. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.