Ice Storm in Hardin, Kentucky

Around a half inch of ice accumulated in Elizabethtown, Vine Grove, and Radcliff. Extensive tree damage occurred. Power outages were also reported. There was a fatal accident on Interstate 65 northbound at mile marker 91 in Elizabethtown.

An arctic airmass was centered over the northern Plains, and Kentucky and southern Indiana were positioned directly along a volatile boundary between the arctic air mass and a warm and moist tropical airmass associated with the Gulf of Mexico. The vertical temperature profile was ideal for the formation of freezing rain. The arctic air wedged itself beneath a warm and moist layer aloft. As energy associated with the jet stream passed over the Ohio Valley, a mix of wintry precipitation occurred. A large swath of freezing rain occurred, stretching mainly west to east across Kentucky.