Kentucky winter storm updates: Up to 6 inches of snow falls. Crews clear roads again
Kentucky’s third wave of severe winter weather dropped up to 6 inches of snow in some counties by early Thursday.
Heavy bands of snow moved across southern and Central Kentucky overnight and into the morning.
Fresh snow covered over ice and snow from previous storms, but precipitation was expected to “taper off” Thursday, according to WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey.
Watch below for new updates as the winter weather rolls on Thursday.
Updates from Gov. Andy Beshear
As of Thursday afternoon, more than half of the the people who’d lost power in Eastern Kentucky during the winter weather had their electricity restored, according to the office of Gov. Andy Beshear.
The power outages peaked at more than 154,000 customers, and as of Thursday’s update about 85,000 of those customers had power again, according to Beshear’s office. Kentucky State Police were set to fly Kentucky Power workers to Eastern Kentucky on Friday to help get power back to those who are still without.
Neighborhood and side roads across the state were snow covered and hazardous Thursday, but Kentucky State Police reported that there had been no interstate closures caused by the third round of winter weather, according to Beshear’s office.
Most main roads were passable as of Thursday afternoon, but downed trees and power lines were making it more difficult to clear some roads in Eastern and Northeastern Kentucky.
“Crews still have their work cut out for them even after this last round of precipitation ends this evening,” Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said in Thursday’s update. “Single-digit temperatures this weekend will keep ice and snow around for some time, but the break in precipitation will give crews a chance to maintain passable lanes plows have already cleared. We appreciate the patience from the public and ask all drivers to use caution if they have to travel.”
Updated snowfall totals for Lexington, Eastern Kentucky
2:15 p.m. – Fayette County got between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of snow in the latest wave of winter weather, according to Jessica Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Totals were similar in other Central Kentucky areas. Franklin County had 1.5 to 2 inches, Woodford County had 1.5 inches and Jessamine County had 2.5 inches.
The snow totals were larger in Madison County, which had 4 inches, and in Clark County, which had 3 inches. Casey County and surrounding counties in the south-central region had the highest snowfall totals, which were more than 5 inches, Lee said.
Snowfall totals were consistently higher in Eastern Kentucky, according to the National Weather Service. There were 6 inches of snow in Rockcastle County, 5 inches in Bell County, 5 inches in Estill County, 5 inches in Powell County, 5 inches in Wolfe County, 4.8 inches in Lee County and 4.5 inches in Elliott County.
Lawrence and Carter counties appeared to get 4 to 5 inches, Meteorologist Kevin Sullivan said. Those counties were among the hardest hit by power outages over the past week.
Dry, cold weather coming for the whole region
1:15 p.m. – After precipitation ends Thursday, Kentuckians can expect a dry weekend, Lee said.
The state will first be subjected to “dangerous cold” Saturday morning before temperatures increase above freezing later Saturday. Saturday morning lows were expected to be in the single digits to low teens for much of the state. Lexington’s low temperature was expected to be 10 degrees.
Temperatures were expected to get as high as 46 degrees Sunday in Central Kentucky and near 50 degrees in Eastern Kentucky, according to the weather service.
Kentucky power outages on the rise again
11:30 a.m. – Kentucky power outages increased again Thursday morning, with more than 70,000 reported just after 9 a.m. The number of reported outages was under 70,000 earlier in the morning.
A lot of the outages occurred in Eastern Kentucky, which already had been hit particularly hard over the past week. As many as 154,000 customers were without electricity earlier this week.
Lawrence County had the highest percentage of its customers without power. About 82.3 percent were experiencing outages. Elliott, Carter, Boyd and Magoffin counties also had significant outages.
Kentucky Power, which services much of Eastern Kentucky, said Thursday that the overnight show had not caused further problems in areas where the weight of ice from earlier storms took down trees and power lines. The utility had about 30,000 customers without power.
“Crews have found 258 broken poles, 196 cross arms and 13 transformers as part of its damage assessment” in counties with power outages., the company said. “For example, in the Hazard area crews are working to hand-set approximately 40 poles, which is the case in others too. Some of these are in tough locations requiring bulldozers, special equipment and unfortunately not truck accessible. There are more than 1,000 places where repairs are needed.”
The utility previously said it would work on restoration through the weekend.
As of 10 a.m., 38,517 customers of Kentucky power cooperatives had no electricity.
“It’s 2 steps forward, 1 step back as crews continue to work through challenging conditions to restore power,” the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives said in a tweet Thursday morning. Kentucky Electric Cooperatives is a statewide association supporting Kentucky’s 24 local distribution co-ops.
Nearly 800 personnel were assisting the efforts to restore power, in addition to the cooperatives’ own crews, according to the cooperatives association.
Lexington’s winter storm warning downgraded to an advisory
11 a.m. – Much of Kentucky was under a winter storm warning which was set to expire Thursday evening, but that warning was lifted Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Only about a dozen counties in the far southwest region of the state were still under a warning.
But the entire rest of the state was still under a winter weather advisory. The advisory warned of mix precipitation with light snow and ice accumulations. The advisory was scheduled to expire at 10 p.m. Thursday.
“Plan on slippery road conditions,” the National Weather Service said. “The hazardous conditions could impact area travel, mainly on secondary roads.”
Lexington roads get recoated by more snow
8:40 a.m. – District 7 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which covers Central Kentucky, described roads as “partly and mostly covered” Thursday morning. Earlier in the morning, the transportation cabinet said road conditions were improving. The cabinet oversees interstates.
City crews from the Lexington Streets and Roads department worked overnight and early Thursday to treat and plow roads, but additional snowfall made the efforts “challenging.”
“The most recent snow showers have recoated many roadways that had previously been cleared so drivers will need to remain alert,” the city said in an email. “While primary roads are in good condition, many side and neighborhood roads remain icy and snow-covered.”
City offices that aren’t involved in weather-related work were set to open two hours late Thursday, according to the city.
Between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday, Lexington police responded to 14 collisions and 37 motorists in need of assistance, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said.
Roads in Eastern Kentucky recovered by new snow
8:30 a.m. – The latest round of snow “mostly covered” all routes in the northeastern region of Kentucky, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
In Elliott, Carter and Boyd counties, more than 30 roads were still affected by fallen trees Thursday morning, according to the transportation cabinet. Chainsaw crews were working to clear those areas. Some of those trees toppled under the weight of ice deposited in the first two storms that hit since this time last week.
The transportation cabinet asked people in the region to avoid travel to keep themselves safe and make it easier for road crews to work.
EKU, Transylvania remain digital-only
6:15 a.m. – Eastern Kentucky University moved to all-virtual classes for Thursday and Friday. Transylvania also scheduled all-virtual classes for Thursday. The University of Kentucky announced it would hold in-person class as scheduled.
Other UK operations were also running on their normal schedules, including the COVID-19 vaccination site at Kroger Field and the COVID-19 testing sites on UK properties. UK HealthCare hospitals and clinics were also running on a normal schedule.
Boyd County woman dies of hypothermia
Wednesday night – Much of the eastern part of Kentucky was still without power from an ice storm that hit Monday night.
A 77-year-old Boyd County woman died Wednesday afternoon likely of hypothermia after going two days without power and heat, said Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond.
The woman lived in an apartment complex and maintenance workers went to check on her and found her deceased, Hammond said.
Hammond strongly encouraged those still without power and heat to go to a warming station, overnight shelter or to someone’s house who has electricity and heat. It’s dangerous to go too long without heat with the temperatures dropping into the single digits overnight.
“We have a lot of people who are trying to stay in their home for a variety of reasons, because it’s their home or because of pets,” Hammond said. “The temperatures are down in the teens. We have warming stations and shelters set up for that reason.”
People with hypothermia often become sluggish and confused and don’t know when they need help, Hammond said.
“Nothing is worth losing your life,” Hammond wrote in a Facebook post encouraging Kentuckians without power to get to shelter.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 6:54 AM.