Explore Carlisle County

Explore Carlisle County on the Western border of Kentucky. On the west boundary of the county flows the Mississippi River. Carlisle has a land area of 127,360 acres or 199 square miles. The county seat is Bardwell.

The county is one of the eight counties that make up the Jackson Purchase physiographic region of Kentucky.  It is the youngest region in Kentucky, geologically as well as historically. Two contrasting topographic landscapes characterize Carlisle County: the upland area and the bottom lands. The upland area, well dissected by normal stream erosion, is composed of rolling hills, locally flat-topped ridges, and broad valleys.

Bottom lands adjacent to the Mississippi River range from 290 to 330 feet. They are marked by north-south-oriented lakes, ponds, sloughs, chutes, and swamps, all former routes of the Mississippi in normal or flood-flow conditions. One floodplain area, known as Islands 2, 3, and 4, lies on the west side of the present channel of the Mississippi River. It has been cut off from the main part of the county as the river changed its route.

The climate is a mild, temperate, humid, continental type.  Winters are short and are characterized by short cold spells, frequent sharp changes in temperature, and high humidity.  Summers are longer but hot periods are generally brief.  Precipitation is usually well distributed throughout the year with brief periods of drought occurring in the summer and excess moisture occurring in winter and spring.  The average annual precipitation is 47.19” with an average annual snowfall of 8.4”.  The average daily maximum temperature is 67.4◦F and the average daily minimum temperature is 47◦F.