Heavy Snow — Lyon, Kentucky

2011-01-25 to 2011-01-26 · Lyon, Kentucky

Wider weather episode

An upper level storm system moved from western Arkansas across Tennessee. Moisture spread northward from the system, starting as light rain or mixed rain and snow in places south and east of Paducah. As colder air filtered in from the northwest, a transition from rain to snow occurred. The snow continued overnight, falling heavily at times from Owensboro south to the Hopkinsville area. Snow accumulations were generally from 3 to 6 inches from the Kentucky Lake area east and northeast across western Kentucky. Less than an inch occurred in the Mississippi River counties of Ballard and Carlisle. Specific snowfall reports included 6 inches two miles north of Hopkinsville, 6 inches in Owensboro and 4 miles southwest of Cadiz, 5 inches in Dawson Springs, 4.5 inches in Central City and Cadiz, 4 inches in Eddyville, 3 inches in Providence, Fort Campbell, and Draffenville, 2.5 inches in Henderson and Murray, and 1 inch in Paducah, Mayfield, and Clinton. Roads became very slick and hazardous, especially from the Kentucky Lake area eastward and northeast. Three vehicles slid off Interstate 24 near mile marker 19 in Marshall County. Multiple cars slid off U.S. Highway 641 south of Murray. There were numerous other accidents around the region. On the morning following the snowstorm, a fatal wreck was caused by lingering patches of snow and ice on Interstate 24 near exit 40 in Lyon County. The driver of a pickup truck lost control of his vehicle on the U.S. Highway 62 overpass, struck a bridge rail, then went into the median. Both occupants of the pickup truck got out of the truck, only to be struck by another pickup truck that lost control on the same bridge. The driver of the first truck was killed (indirect fatality), and his passenger was injured. The collision caused the westbound lanes of the interstate to be shut down for about an hour.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 271786. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.