Ice Storm — Henry, Kentucky

2018-11-14 to 2018-11-15 · Henry, Kentucky

Event narrative

Dispatch reported trees were down blocking roads in the county. Estimated 0.2-0.3 inches of glaze on elevated surfaces around 6 am on the 15th. There were isolated slick spots on area roads.

Wider weather episode

A cold air mass already in place combined with an anomalous low pressure system to produce an early season freezing rain event across central Kentucky and southern Indiana. Many locations received between a tenth and a quarter of an inch of ice accumulating on trees/shrubs and other elevated surfaces. Warm ground temperatures kept most roads ice free, though some bridges had slick spots.

The ice on the trees, many of which still had leaves that helped to weigh them down, caused several limbs/branches to snap and some trees to fall. There were many reports of power flashes overnight as branches hit transformers. At the peak of the event, over 100,000 customers were without power in the region. One utility company serving much of central Kentucky reported that it was one of the top 10 costliest outages in it's history.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 793250. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.