Heavy Snow — Wolfe, Kentucky

2022-01-16 to 2022-01-17 · Wolfe, Kentucky

Event narrative

After a period of mixed precipitation during much of the day on the 16th, snow fell heavily at times during the afternoon and evening. A snow report of 4.1 inches on Terrill Fork Road was received at 641 PM on January 16th, as per social media, and snow continued for several hours thereafter. An NWS employee measure 4.2 inches near Toliver at 951 AM on the 17th.

Wider weather episode

A complex winter storm lifted across the Southeast US on January 16th, initially spreading a mix of light snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the eastern Kentucky during the morning hours. A nose of warm air changed the precipitation over to mainly rain and freezing rain by late morning and early afternoon. Eventually colder air filtered in aloft and eroded the warm nose enough to allow the precipitation to switch back over to snow. As this occurred, most of the precipitation became confined to a narrow but intense band of snow along the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau. The heavy snow led to thousands of power outages from McCreary and Whitley Counties, northward into Menifee County. As the evening wore on, the snow slowly shifted east and split up into multiple weaker bands. Most of the eastern Kentucky saw a warning-criteria snowfall with the exception of portions of Knott and Perry counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 999339. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.