Winter Storm in Jefferson, Kentucky

Sleet, mixing with snow at times, brought 2 to 4 inches from south to north across the Louisville metro area through 8 am Tuesday, February 27th. Freezing rain beginning later that afternoon brought an additional 1/2 inch of ice accretion. Freezing rain changed to snow after dawn Wednesday. An additional 2 to 3 inches of snow fell. The icing led to widespread power outages across the Louisville metro area. An estimated 230,000 home and businesses lost power. Many residents stayed without power for up to one week. A portable generator lead to carbon monoxide poisoning that killed 3 persons in a Louisville home Thursday.

A prolonged ice and snow storm began around just after midnight Tuesday January 27 and continued through 11 am Wednesday January 28. The mixed freezing rain and snow that fell over central Kentucky was just one aspect of a widespread overrunning event that brought destructive winter weather from Texas, through the Ohio Valley, into New England. Arctic air centered across the Upper Midwest supplied low level cold air. Several disturbances moved east across a nearly stationary front stalled across the Tennessee Valley.

Snow, mixing with sleet, brought accumulations of around 2 to 4 inches from areas just south of the Ohio River through Frankfort and the northern Bluegrass Region by dawn on January 27th. Farther south during this time, ice accumulations ranging from one half to just over one inch stretched from Ohio county eastward through the southern Bluegrass Region. Along the Tennessee border, ice on elevated surfaces averaged one quarter of an inch.

During the afternoon of the 27th and into the morning hours on the 28th, freezing rain developed along and north of interstate 64 and brought widespread ice accumulations averaging 1/2 inch. Rain fell over south central Kentucky. Icing lead to widespread tree damage and power outages by the morning of the 28th. Colder air arrived after dawn on the 28th. Freezing rain changed back to snow with additional accumulations of 1 to 3 inches along and north of Interstate 64.

This winter storm brought the most widespread damage due to icing in recent memory across Kentucky. Ice accumulated over 1 inch across central portions of the Commonwealth, including Grayson, Ohio, Butler and Breckinridge counties. Over 600,000 residences lost power, exceeding the number of outages due to the remnants of hurricane Ike last September. Utility companies stated that this event brought the greatest number of outages from any weather event in history.

The almost continuous rain or snow over a 36 hour period brought 3 to 4 inches of precipitation over a wide area and even lead to some minor flooding.