Winter Storm — Bullitt, Kentucky

2015-03-05 · Bullitt, Kentucky

Event narrative

A 55 year old man died of an apparent heart attack after shoveling snow. Between 12 and 18 inches of wet, heavy snow had accumulated.

Wider weather episode

An intense storm system brought flooding rains to central Kentucky, followed quickly by exceptionally heavy snow. This amount of rain, followed by such heavy snow, is practically unprecedented. The upper level pattern featured a positively tilted upper trough across the desert southwest on the 3nd of March. A tight baroclinic zone stretched northeastward through southern Indiana. Strong southwesterly flow at lower levels brought rich moisture along this nearly stationary boundary. Initially, during the evening hours on the 3nd, rain developed along this boundary and gradually overspread all of southern Indiana and central Kentucky. Steady rain continued through the late afternoon on the 4th. Two to almost 3 inches of rain fell across north central and central Kentucky before precipitation changed into snow during the late afternoon hours on the 4th. Minor areal flooding developed with several roads and low water crossings closed.

Rain changed into heavy snow near the Ohio River around 5pm, with precipitation changeover slowly moving farther south during the evening, Rain finally changed over to snow near the Tennessee Border during the early morning hours. Intense frontogenesis and lift associated with the right rear quadrant of a powerful jet led to the development of several intense snow bands where snow fell at a rate of 2 inches per hour. One band developed from near Breckenridge County and stretched through Bullitt County and across the northern Bluegrass. Under this nearly stationary band, snow totals ranged from 15 to locally over 20 inches. One reliable snow report from near Radcliff, Kentucky measured 25 inches, which is one inch short of the all time Kentucky storm total snowfall record. Snow diminished from west to east during the mid-morning hours on the 5th. Snow totals across south central Kentucky, adjacent to Tennessee, ranged from 5 to 8 inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 564348. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.