Madison County hits minus 32 degrees, matching Kentucky's coldest February day ever

The capital of North Dakota was 64 degrees warmer than Madison County, Ky., Friday morning.

Kentucky Mesonet, the statewide weather monitoring system, reported a low of minus 32 in Madison County early Friday. Meanwhile, the temperature in Bismarck, N.D., at 6 a.m. Friday was 32 above zero.

The Friday low in Madison County matches Kentucky's all-time low for February, when the Caldwell County city of Princeton reported minus 32 on Feb. 2, 1951.

And Friday's low in Madison County comes uncomfortably close to the all-time low in Kentucky, which was minus 37 on Jan. 19, 1994, in Shelbyville.

Other places in Central and Eastern Kentucky had lows in the minus 20s, according to Kentucky Mesonet.

They included Harrison County, minus 27; Johnson County, minus 26; Owsley County, minus 25; Bath County, minus 24; Nicholas and Rowan counties, minus 23.

These were all recorded air temperatures and did not factor in wind chill.

Record lows for the date fell like bowling pins Friday morning all across the state, the National Weather Service said, as the region braced for another possible storm Friday night into Saturday.

At 4:34 a.m. Friday, the temperature at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington fell to minus 18. That shattered the old record low for the date of zero degrees set in 1896, when Grover Cleveland was president and the price of a postage stamp was 2 cents.

Minus 18 also approaches the all-time low in Lexington, which was minus 21 on Jan. 24, 1963.

Other records for the date were broken in Frankfort, Louisville, Bowling Green and elsewhere.

Capital City Airport in Frankfort recorded a low of minus 21 at 6:30 a.m. Friday. That broke the old record of minus 3 set in 1896.

Louisville International Airport recorded an air temperature of minus 6. That broke the old record of zero degrees for that date set in 1885.

In Bowling Green, the temperature at Warren County Airport fell to minus 4, breaking the old record for the date of minus 3, also set in 1885.

The weather service's temperature records for Lexington go back to 1872.

The cold weather this week is due to "high pressure straight over us pumping air down straight from Canada," said Bob Szappanos, meteorologist with the weather service in Louisville.

Although highs this time of year are typically in the upper 40s, it's not unusual for late February to be colder — just not usually this cold.

"The dead of winter season here is actually middle January through the end of February," Szappanos said. "That's when you get your coldest temperatures. Toward the end of February and March you begin to slowly transition out of it."

Forecasters were calling for possible significant accumulations of snow overnight Friday into Saturday, with ice also possible. The weather service in Louisville issued a winter storm warning for Central and Eastern Kentucky from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Wind chills for Lexington and surrounding counties were anticipated to range between minus 10 and minus 25 through 9 a.m. Saturday, the weather service said.

In Tennessee, officials said the number of deaths caused by winter weather had risen to 18. In all, the agency reported that hypothermia has led to nine deaths. Five people have died in vehicle crashes related to the weather, and one dialysis patient was unable to get treatment. Three died in a house fire.

Much of Tennessee was under a winter storm warning Friday. Officials said the threat of severe cold, snow, freezing rain, sleet, downed power lines and flash flooding in Tennessee would continue through Sunday.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Madison County hits minus 32 degrees, matching Kentucky's coldest February day ever."