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Snow on the Ground for 3 Days It Will Snow Again in 10 Days

Top Ten Wintertime Weather condition Events in Southern Indiana and Key Kentucky

photo:  Angela Crecelius, Milltown, Indiana

1.  Record Snow and Incredible Cold
Jan 17 - 19, 1994
An intense winter storm brought copious amounts of snowfall to the region Monday the 17th, with all of Kentucky and southern Indiana receiving several inches of snow.  A band of particularly heavy snowfall fix from Shelbyville through Cynthiana where nearly 2 feet roughshod.  At Louisville a single-day snowfall tape of more than xv inches was ready.

The heavy snowfall set the stage for what was to come next.  Behind the storm an intensely common cold air mass dumped s out of Canada, sending temperatures plunging well beneath zero by Wednesday the 19th.  Not only did Louisville record an all-time low of -22 degrees, but Shelbyville fix a new record low temperature for the unabridged land of Kentucky with a reading of -37!  Lexington came inside 1 degree of their all-fourth dimension tape low.

2.  Great Ice Storm of '51
January 29 - Feb 2, 1951

An extremely strong loftier-pressure arrangement started making its way into the region, pulling harsh, cold, polar air in with it.   In the meantime, a stiff depression pressure level system was moving through areas farther south forth a cold front, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico and upward into the Northeast.  The cold front caused temperatures to drop, then that on the evening of January 30th, temperatures for Nashville, Tennessee, were but at 18 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius).  Nonetheless, temperatures just to a higher place the surface at 5,000 feet were really above freezing, registering at 48 degrees Fahrenheit (9 degrees Celsius).  This was the perfect set up for the evolution and occurrence of freezing rain and sleet.

In Bowling Green, near 3 inches of snow and sleet had covered the city past morning time of the 31st, causing roads to get near impassible.  Past noon, the snowfall had turned to rain due to the above freezing warmer air aloft, however on the surface temperatures had only risen to 28 degrees Fahrenheit.  This caused the pelting to freeze upon affect, worsening the traffic situation.  Bulldozers were called out to help the effort and scrape the ice, with lilliputian effect.

And then a turn for the worse occurred yet again.  Past the side by side morning, on Feb one, temperatures started dropping dramatically.  Earlier the day was over a low of -1 degrees Fahrenheit had been recorded, and some other seven inches of snow had fallen.  Travel by this point was virtually impossible, causing major delays for airlines, busses, and trains throughout the state.  Damage was reported throughout the region as tree limbs croaky and fell onto power lines due to the dumbo ice packed onto them.

The cold only continued.  At 4:45 a.yard. February 2, Bowling Green recorded a temperature of -20 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest official temperature e'er recorded in Feb upwards to that fourth dimension.  The precipitation continued as well, leaving behind ix inches of snowfall and sleet on the ground in Southern Kentucky.  Crews were working around the clock to restore both power and phone lines.  Water pipes burst nether the extreme cold, transportation remained halted, temperatures remained unbearable, and ten days later the area had yet to recover from the ice and the snow.

The Great Ice Storm of 1951, as it came to be known, covered the due south in a linear path of water ice from Louisiana to Ohio.  Heaviest accumulations fell in a line from Memphis to Nashville, Tennessee and northeastward into Lexington, KY.  Information technology was the costliest winter on tape for the fourth dimension, causing an estimated $100 meg in damage.  The impact on forest, livestock, crops and fruit trees was responsible for $64 1000000 of that total.  It is estimated that 25 people lost their lives across the areas affected past the storm, and some other 500 were injured.

3.  Easter Freeze
April v - 10, 2007

Snowy track

Lexington, Kentucky
photo:  Steve Blake

After an unusually warm streak the last ten days of March, with temperatures topping out in the 70s and 80s each twenty-four hours, a cold front fabricated its way into the Ohio Valley Region on April 3.  With the cold front came extensive severe weather, and afterwards replaced the once loftier temperatures with an immense area of cold Canadian air.  Temperatures dipped into the 20s and 30s in the mornings between the 5th and the 10th throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  Bowling Greenish spent a total of 47 non-consecutive hours beneath freezing, with their lowest temperatures of 22 degrees Fahrenheit on the eighth of the month.  Louisville and Lexington both recorded impressive lows as well, with Louisville reporting 25 degrees on the 7th and Lexington 22 degrees for both the seventh and 8th.

Before the cold streak, the jump crops and institute growth were getting an early commencement with the excessive warmth for the fourth dimension of season.  Still, every bit the cold air set in for the week, the below freezing temperatures took advantage of the blooming vegetation.  Nearly all crops suffered losses, including most of the state's peaches.  Half the wheat crop was destroyed, estimating at 63 one thousand thousand dollars worth of losses.  The same went for the area's corn crop, which reported 5 million dollars in losses.  16 million was reported in damages for a 20 one thousand thousand dollar fruit industry, nearly crippling it.  Total losses throughout the Kentucky and southern Indiana region were well over 130 meg dollars.  As fate would have it, this would non be the only trouble set to accept identify on the ingather industry for this yr.  Equally the summer got upwards and going, a stiff drought set up in lasting throughout the early autumn months of 2007.  After the April freeze had taken most of the crops, the drought was the end of any hope for a prosperous year in local agronomics.

iv.  1998 Snowstorm
February 3 - 6, 1998

From the evening of February 3 until the morning of February 6, snow poured out of the sky, dumping every bit much as 25 inches onto parts of Kentucky.  Power lines were down across most of the Louisville CWA, roads became covered, slick, hazardous, and even impassible in some cases.  Over the next three days, three people lost their lives in weather related traffic accidents beyond the state, and another iv were injured. States of emergency were alleged for most counties in Kentucky.

Although the storm system looked like a typical Nor'easter for this fourth dimension of twelvemonth, taking a path from the Gulf Declension to the northeast along the Atlantic Declension, it was packed with strength and very slow moving.  With these two factors, plenty moisture was pulled into the system from the Atlantic Ocean (not the Gulf of United mexican states, equally is usually the case) and the Appalachian Mountains proved no barrier for bringing the moisture farther w than a normal Nor'easter.  Heavy snows started on the evening of February tertiary in the southeast portions of the Louisville CWA, so travelled due north reaching the Louisville metropolitan area shortly before sunrise on February 4th.   Areas of ten" plus of snow accumulations stretched all the way to the Ohio River past 7:00 p.grand. EST.

Most of the heaviest snowfall was limited to an area north of a Lexington to Louisville line, in areas such as New Castle of Henry County, where 25 inches were reported.  Totals were smaller for southwest portions of the Louisville CWA, measuring between five-10 inches by the end of the event. Information technology is said that these totals are non completely reflecting of the actual totals which occurred, in that during the several days of this event melting and packing took identify, then that in reality snow totals could have been much college.  Past February 6th, 36 of the 49 counties in the Kentucky portion of the Louisville CWA had at least 10 full inches of snow on the ground.  Louisville itself bankrupt its all-time tempest full snowfall, reaching 22.4 inches (previous record: 15.9 inches on January 16-17, 1994), Oldham County reported an additional 11 inches of new snow on the ground by the forenoon of the 6th, and beyond other sections of central and northern Kentucky snow total reports were anywhere from 12 to well-nigh 30 inches.

v.  Christmas Snowstorm
December 22 - 23, 2004
two feet of snow
Milltown, Indiana
photo:  Angela Crecelius
A wintertime tempest dropped snow onto sections of southern Indiana, and counties bordering the Ohio River in Kentucky, with accumulations upwards to thirty inches, causing drifts of ii-5 feet.  At times the snow roughshod at a rate of 4 inches per hour, with highest accumulations measuring 32 inches. Nearly roads in these areas were considered dangerous and impassible… but nothing compared to areas which were affected farther to the south.  Here the winter storm began with freezing rains, and then changed to sleet and snowfall over parts of south central and east primal Kentucky.  In some areas ice was ½ inch thick, in others they were upward to a full inch, non to mention the improver of sleet and snow amounting anywhere from 1 inch to 4 inches, and in some places even up to x inches.

Many residents were left without ability for a long menstruation of time, mainly in Franklin, Harrison and Scott counties.  33,000 Louisvillians experienced power outages for 2 days, where a total of 6 inches of sleet fell before the snow ever hit. Trees and limbs snapped at the weight of the water ice across the sate, cluttering the roads which at this point were still impassible.  An airport hanger complanate in Elizabethtown, destroying several airplanes.  Businesses were reporting ceiling or other minor edifice damage, but only several pocket-size structures failed.  Although most of the major interstates were able to remain open (with the exception of Interstate 64, and ane lane usage on Interstate 65), many flights to the Louisville International Airport were delayed or cancelled.

Perchance the most crippling aspect of this event was its timing.  Because it occurred correct earlier the Christmas holidays, airlines suffered significantly and businesses lost millions of last minute customers.  It is said that the local businesses lost upward to lxxx percent of their expected sales during the tempest.  This, along with the impassible roads and power outages made information technology a White Christmas not to presently be forgotten.

half-dozen. Unrelenting Snow, Air current, and Cold
January 1978
Snowfall map
1 nail after another of frigid arctic air poured into the central and eastern United states of america during the calendar month of January 1978, making the month ane of the top five coldest months ever recorded in southern Indiana and fundamental Kentucky.  At Lexington, all only three days during the month were colder than normal, and 19 of the days were at to the lowest degree ten degrees below normal.  The worst of the icy air struck on the 9th and 10th with many locations dipping beneath zero with highs simply around ten degrees while winds gusted to 25 mph.
After several small snows during the first one-half of the calendar month, a huge storm swept in on the 16th and 17th (see map above).  Louisville recorded an amazing 15.7 inches of snow, which was the snowfall of record until the January 1994 and Feb 1998 storms.
To close out the calendar month, the legendary "Blizzard of '78" struck the Midwest and Nifty Lakes.  While snowfalls in southern Indiana and central Kentucky were only on the order of 2 to 5 inches, west winds gusted to xl mph.  Due to the abiding cold, much of the snow that had fallen during the month was however on the ground at the first of the blizzard, giving those howling winds 10 inches of snow to accident around (plus the additional snow that fell with the storm itself)!  Some area residents were trapped in their homes for several days, and a land of emergency was issued for all but the southeast corner of Kentucky.  As well of annotation, at 9:20pm on the 25th, Lexington set their all-time record for depression sea-level barometric pressure level:  28.82".
After the blizzard some other common cold boom surged in and took temperatures below zero again.
 7.  Ohio Valley Water ice Tempest
January 26-28, 2009
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Photo:  NWS

A wintry mix moved into southern Indiana and central Kentucky on the night of Monday, January 26, 2009. Precipitation began every bit light freezing drizzle and freezing pelting over the entire surface area, but changed to sleet and and then snow overnight into the early morning hours of Tuesday beyond southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. Upward to 6 inches of snow accumulated across the northernmost sections of the CWA. Freezing rain continued over southern Kentucky. On Tuesday the 27th, precipitation changed to freezing rain over southern Indiana and northern Kentucky, and to rain over southern Kentucky. Ice over an inch thick was reported in many locations from the freezing rain. Tuesday dark freezing pelting and sleet continued over southern Indiana, freezing rain transitioned to rain over northern Kentucky, and pelting, occasionally heavy, continued over southern Kentucky. Pocket-sized...mainly river flooding developed in some spots by Wed from the steady rain. On the forenoon of Wednesday, Jan 28, atmospheric precipitation inverse over to snow from northwest to southeast across the area. Virtually iii to 4 inches of additional snow accumulation piled up in the n, with less to the southward.

The tempest caused Kentucky's largest power outage on record, with 609,000 homes and businesses without power across the state. Property impairment was widespread, with the damage due to falling copse, large tree limbs, and ability lines weighed downwards by water ice. In the Louisville metropolitan area, 205,000 lost ability and it took upwards to x days to go everyone hooked dorsum upwardly. Surface area school systems were closed for an entire calendar week. Several emergency shelters were set up across the affected region. In Louisville's local schoolhouse organisation, 69 schools lost power.

viii.  Bluegrass Ice Storm
February 15 - 16, 2003
Bluegrass 2003 icestorm
For areas in southern Indiana and n primal Kentucky, freezing rain began to occur belatedly in the afternoon of the 15th as temperatures began to driblet on what was already a dreary rainy day.  By late evening the freezing rain had inverse to sleet, and varied between sleet and light freezing pelting throughout most of the 16th every bit well.  Accumulations were that of mostly sleet with some freezing rain amounting at one to two inches in well-nigh locations.  For areas farther south in the Louisville CWA, the freezing rain prevailed throughout the 16th with trivial sleet, temperatures falling into the upper 20s, giving reports of an inch in ice accumulations forth Interstate 64, from Frankfort to Winchester.

Most belongings impairment for counties of southern Indiana and northward cardinal Kentucky was due to having to restore the power and make clean up from the tree harm caused past the weight of the ice.  In Nelson County, for case, near 2,200 residents wound up without power after the storm.  However, the hardest striking areas were in and around the cities of Frankfort and Lexington, where ice accumulations measured 1 ¼ inches on exposed streets, sidewalks, and branches. Here, an estimated 125,000 residents were without power for up to five days or more, copse were destroyed, branches cluttered the roads, and sections of Interstate 64 were periodically shut down during and after the storm.  A 78 year old human in Lawrenceburg tragically lost his life subsequently sustaining injuries from a falling, water ice covered, tree limb.  Past the fourth dimension the Bluegrass Ice Storm was over, 280,000 customers had their power knocked out, more than 3000 power poles were destroyed and about 800 transformers needed to be replaced.  The total cost to area utilities was about $47 meg, with some other $26 1000000 used by local municipalities to clean up the harm.

9.  March 1996 Snowstorm
March nineteen, 1996

What happens when a deep depression pressure organization meets up with wet from the gulf and below freezing temperatures at the surface?  BAD winter weather.  And what happens when it all meets up correct over the land of Kentucky?  Well in March of 1996 it meant declaring a state of emergency for 22 counties beyond west-central Kentucky, and sending in 185 National Guard troops to assistance police, doctors, and route crews in the worst affected areas.

As the low pressure system moved in on the early morning hours of the 19th, heavy snow began being reported across the country.  As the snow continued throughout the twenty-four hour period, the westward-central portion of the land faired the worst, totaling 10-12 inches past the side by side day, while east-central Kentucky only received 1-ii inches.  Globe-trotting occurred as well, some measured as loftier as 12 feet in western Kentucky!  The heavy wet snow downed copse and power lines, shutting off power to over 37,000 customers.  Near all the roads became extremely slick and snowfall covered, many of them condign impassable, halting traffic, business operations, and whatsoever kind of normal action throughout much of the west-central region of the state correct in the middle of the workweek.   IThere was a state of emergency throughout a large portion of the state.

10.  No Sign of Jump
March 1960

bowling green co-op form

The Bowling Green observer's form for March 1960, showing the low of -6 degrees on the 5th, and 18 inches of snowfall on the 9th (plus another xiv inches of snow falling from the 2d to the 11th)!

March of 1960 was one of the most unusual months ever seen in southern Indiana and central Kentucky.  The month should have heralded the beginning of warmer spring weather condition, but instead was amazingly snowy and common cold.  As a thing of fact, at Bowling Dark-green March of 1960 was not only the snowiest March on record, but was actually the snowiest calendar month on record!  During the month Bowiling Dark-green too received their heaviest snowstorm and heaviest 24-hour snowfall ever seen in the metropolis.  At Louisville and Frankfort it was the snowiest March and 3rd snowiest month always recorded.  At Lexington it was the snowiest March and 8th snowiest month on record.
The first snowstorm to strike the region came through on the second 24-hour interval of the month, and gave Bowling Green five", Louisville 9.2", Lexington 7.v", and Frankfort six.4".  Exactly one calendar week after, depression pressure level formed over New Mexico and moved through the lower Mississippi Valley and on into the central Appalachians.  Huge amounts of wet snow dumped on the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys, including:  18" at Bowling Green, 9.2" at Louisville, v.7" at Lexington, and 7.ii" at Frankfort.
In addition to the snowfall, the month was incredibly cold for and so late in the season.  It was, and still is, the coldest March ever seen at Bowling Green, Louisville, Lexington, and Frankfort.   It was so common cold, that information technology actually stands a full five degrees colder than the 2nd coldest March on record.  At Louisville and Lexington all but one of the first 25 days of the calendar month were more than x degrees colder than normal, and during that fourth dimension 8 to x days were more than 20 degrees below normal.  The worst common cold outbreak of the calendar month struck on the 5th and 6th, when the entire region plunged below zero.  The coldest temperatures ever seen in March occurred:  Bowling Green -half-dozen, Louisville -1, Lexington -2, and Frankfort -iii.
After all that snow and common cold, the atmospheric condition finally broke towards the end of the month, and it broke in a large way.  Temperatures on the 28th soared to about 80 only three days after beingness in the teens!

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Source: https://www.weather.gov/lmk/top10winter

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