Tar Hill, Kentucky
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1932 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Clarkson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42754. It stands on Flutter Creek. The Survey maps it on the Big Clifty quadrangle. It stands 718 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 18 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1932 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1949 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Tell City quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Big Clifty quadrangle1:24000
- 1991 USGS Tell City quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
8 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Tar Hill between 2002 and 2016, burning about 38 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 April 2013 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ST PAUL FIRE |
| 2 April 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 12 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ST. PAUL FIRE |
| 18 April 2010 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 March 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 19 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 15 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | SALT RIVER |
| 20 February 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 30 January 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 18 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | HOLMES TUCKER LANE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
5 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tar Hill in 5 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 heavy rain. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tar Hill | $5,000 | Winds ripped the roof off a self serve car wash. Trees and power lines were also downed. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tar Hill | - | A tree fell down over the 6300 block of Salt River Road. |
| August 2012 | Heavy Rain | Tar Hill | - | A spotter northwest of Big Clifty measured 4.5 inches of rain. This rain fell within a 2 hour period. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF2) | Tar Hill | - | An NWS storm survey comfirmed an EF-2 tornado with maximum wind speeds between 120 and 125 mph touched down in Grayson county along Danny Sadler Rd. On Danny Sadler Road a single wide trailer was destroyed and farm equipment was thrown 50 yards. The tornado continued to the northeast for approximately 2.7 miles before lifting in Hardin county near Burkhead Ln. Elsewhere along the path numerous large hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. Numerous barns and outbuildings were destroyed with their siding thrown 500 yards. A new 24 foot travel trailer was destroyed. Fifteen homes had major roof damage. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Tar Hill | - | An NWS storm survey confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with maximum winds of 75 mph touched down just south of Danny Sadler Rd. The tornado was on the ground for less than a minute and it was a secondary circulation just south of the parent tornado. Trees were snapped and uprooted along its path and power lines were blown down. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Paul | 1.7 miles | 18 | |
| Big Clifty | 3.7 miles | 18 | |
| West Clifty | 3.9 miles | 18 | |
| Clarkson | 4.9 miles | 12 | |
| Hanging Rock | 5.6 miles | 10 | |
| Eveleigh | 6.0 miles | 10 | |
| Lilac | 6.8 miles | 10 | |
| Leitchfield | 7.1 miles | 13 |
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 Tar Hill | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7684991 | The 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 509187. 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.










