More than 150 crashes reported amid dangerous Lexington road conditions
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- Fayette County under winter weather advisory through 9 a.m.; drive with caution.
- Light to moderate snow adds about 0.5 inch this morning; visibility may be reduced.
- NWS will assess storm damage across eight counties after outages and reported structural damage.
Slippery road conditions caused more than 150 crashes Tuesday morning in Lexington, according to city police.
At 8:45 a.m., Lexington police stopped responding to non-injury collisions due to a high volume of calls, but resumed taking non-injury collision reports at 11:30 a.m. Officers responded to 155 total collisions, 16 of which involved injuries between midnight and 11:30 a.m., according to police.
All lanes of Interstate 75 were closed between mile markers 104 and 110 during the morning commute due to multiple jackknifed tractor-trailers. At 10 a.m., the Lexington Traffic Management Center reported that the interstate had reopened in both directions.
The inner loop of Man O’ War Boulevard was shut down at Palumbo Drive due to icy conditions, but the road has since reopened, according to the traffic management center.
Roads across Lexington were closed or significantly delayed during the morning commute. At 11:30 a.m., the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s interactive traffic map showed heavy traffic on Richmond Road near New Circle Road, Man O’ War Boulevard near Interstate 75 and parts of Nicholasville Road near New Circle Road.
Lexington received a trace of snow Monday. A trace is defined by the NWS as snowfall that never accumulates above 0.1 inches.
The temperature dropped below freezing Monday afternoon and has not gone above 32 degrees since, according to the Kentucky Mesonet. It got down to as cold as 20 degrees Tuesday morning.
As of 10 a.m., it was 22 degrees in Lexington, but wind chill values made it feel like 10 degrees, according to the Mesonet.
Along with the 155 collisions, officers responded to 78 motorists assist reports and 44 reports of traffic hazards between midnight and 10:15 a.m., according to police.
“Anyone on the roads should SLOW DOWN and use caution,” police said in a news release. “Slick or snow-covered surfaces make it harder to control or stop your vehicle. Also, increase the distance between you and the car ahead of you.”
The road conditions also resulted in Fayette County Public Schools calling off in-person learning Tuesday. The school district originally delayed classes by two hours but later called off in-person learning altogether.
Fayette County schools will use a non-traditional instruction day, according to the school district. Lexington Catholic High School also canceled classes Tuesday.
Light to moderate snow showers wwere expected to continue through the morning, leading to an additional half-inch of accumulation.
Snowfall could reduce visibility and accumulate on the roads, the NWS said.
Gov. Andy Beshear said many roads across the state were slick. He encouraged drivers to use caution.
“Please use caution while driving and go slow,” Beshear said on social media. “We want everyone to get where they are going safely.”
The snow showers were expected to stop by the afternoon. The NWS a clipper system could drop another dusting of snow Wednesday morning.
NWS plans to survey damage from Monday’s severe weather
The NWS is planning to visit eight Kentucky counties this week to assess damage left behind by Monday’s severe weather.
The damage surveys will take place in Bullitt, Clinton, Grayson, Hardin, Logan, Meade, Nelson and Warren counties. Damage in Bullitt, Grayson, Hardin and Meade was conducted Monday while the rest are scheduled for this week.
The storm left thousands without power, but no one was injured. Gov. Andy Beshear said there was some structural damage reported across the state.
As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, there were 3,646 people in Kentucky without power, according to poweroutage.us. A majority of the outages were reported out of Martin County.
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 7:08 AM.
