Good Monday to one and all. The arctic front that swept across the state last nightΒ announced its arrival with a band of heavy snow, high winds and a major temperature drop. We even had thundersnow reported in several areas of eastern Kentucky. That’s when you know a front means business.
The snow isn’t finished… rounds of snow showers and squalls will be around today and these can cause additional issues. They come by and throw a fresh accumulation down, reduce visibilities and then move on their merry little way. These are arctic in nature and won’t really show themselves too well on radar.
Now we are in the firmly in the grips of Old Man Winter as dangerously cold temperatures and wind chill readings take over. Temperatures today will continue to drop for most of the day and will wind up in close to zero by the end of the day. Most thermometers go below zero this evening and stay there into Tuesday morning.
Check out how far below normal todays temps are…
Gusty winds will blow and this will knock the wind chill temperatures down into the -20 to -30 degree range at times. That’s some crazy cold!
The brutal cold hangs tough into Wednesday morning then gives way to a more gentle brand of cold by the end of the week. As the milder air moves in… it should produce a little light wintry precipitation for Thursday and Friday.
The pattern breaks for a few days next weekend into early the following week. That said… it starts to come roaring back not to long thereafter….
I don’t think you’ve heard the last of the Polar Vortex.
Back to today… RESPECT THE COLD!Β Here are some tracking toys…
Current temperatures
Winds
I-75 @ Winchester Road Lexington
I-75 @ Iron Works Pike Lexington
I-75 @ Clays Ferry Bridge South Between Lexington and Richmond
US 60 @ US 127 Frankfort
US 127 @ Frankfort Frankfort
I-75 at MP 36 London
I-71/I-75 at Buttermilk Pike Near Covington
I-64 @ 3rd St. Exit Louisville
Downtown Louisville @ 2nd & Broadway Louisville
I-65 @ 234 Near Bowling Green
I-24 MP 4 @ US 60 Paducah
Stay warm and take care.
so i have a question CB. what do u mean by these wont show good on radar cause they are artic in nature….why wont they show
Because arctic snows produce flakes that are very fine in nature compared to the big flakes with a wet snow. So the radar has a more difficult time picking them up
Fairly sure that snow at such low temps and high ratios is very fine, nothing like the big flakes some of you saw tonight. Probably harder for radar to catch, especially if it is only light precip.
Yes – and the closer you are to the radar, the more likely they may show. At least that’s what I’ve noticed with snow showers when it’s very cold. You always see them over Louisville (very close to the NWS radar, but not Lexington (not close to the radar). I asked this a week or so back.
Right, it’s snowing in London now, but it’s not on radar..we’re too far away from Jackson. Most all of last week’s snow wasn’t on radar.
Due to physics, the radar beam increases in vertical height as one moves farther from the radar site. Since this snow is in the very lowest layers, the radars will only show the snow about to 35-40 miles from an individual site. The 88-Ds are sensitive enough that we can see this very fine snow.
I do believe it is because there is very little moisture required to make a snowflake with the temps this cold…
Extremely light coating in Lewis Co.
Complete and utter bust here in Louisville as expected. Not even much trouble with the “flash freeze” they were fear-mongering about.
I’m extremely happy that the ice and most of the snow has been a bust..Ohio, Indiana and New England can keep the snow π Hope everyone is staying warm and safe.. Don’t forget about the pets during this horrible cold spell.
Prayers for those with power outage.
Yes and the linemen & women who are out trying to fix them.
Really?! I thought you loved the snow… Oh well.
Hey Bubba,did you hear that Barb is glad the snow missed us? I am so shocked…not!!!
Might have been a bust where you live but other places not so much.
well I have around 3 inches and still snowing, I call that a bust π Wish I could send it across the river into ohio ..haha
I’m sure you live in the 1-4 zones so not a bust and temps are getting close to expected just not as quickly no bust for you. I’m glad you got 3 inches of snow and hope you thoroughly enjoy it. BUNDLE UP π
Well Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington was pretty much a bust..haha Andy, I’m off for the day and I don’t plan on leaving the house, other than taking my dog out to potty π I plan on staying in and making a pot of chicken and dumplings with sweet cornbread π Andy have a nice day and keep warm
Thanks Barb I will be venturing out for some milk today I suppose sometimes I think somebody swapped my kids for baby cows LoL
You don’t plan on leaving the house or the blog either I can tell…haha
Barb needs to move to Frankfort, we have barely a dusting, and the DOME loves it here!
Like
Not even a dusting in my neck of the woods in Louisville (near the Highlands). Everything is dry. No flash-frozen roads. No black ice. No nothing. The cameras at I-64 & 3rd St. and 2nd & Broadway tell the whole story. Nothing but salt.
Except cold. There’s plenty of that.
Some of our roads look white, but I believe there’s more salt accumulation than snow.
any idea how roads are between Somerset and London? what about I-75 ??
thanks for any info
http://511.ky.gov/kyhb/main.jsf
From Somerset to London, it highlighted ‘hazardous driving conditions’ along the entire route, but nothing more specific than that, which means there may be spotty problems along the whole route or it could very well mean the entire route is bad.
thanks Mike …. I forget about that 511
Northbound 75 is one lane.
Good news that the wind actually reduced the flash freeze issues, especially on roads. The expectation was much worse than it appears to be.
What a weather event, near 60 yesterday, then cool drizzle followed by a hard rain which turned to hard thundersnow at midnight. Currently about 2 inches snow, 12 degrees with light snow falling. I’ve had it all last 24 hours here in Knott Co.
It’s still 21 at my house is the attic front missing west liberty
It will get colder as the day goes on
We ended up with about an inch here in Corbin, but the flash freeze was insane. I’m waiting for the Zamboni to come roll up the hill! I’ve not seen ice like this in a long time.
Too bad work will have to wait a little while longer today.
I’m now at zero degrees. It’s been falling at an average of 2.5 degrees/hour for most of the night. At this rate, I’ll be at -2 by 8:00am. Don’t know if any sunshine will help much after that, not expected to get above zero in Louisville.
We have close to 2 inches here at my house. It is snowing now as well. We did get the flash freeze and the wind is still making my wind chimes sing. Don’t know about main roads but the ones by my house are snow covered and slick. Everyone please be safe today and don’t go out unless you have to. The cold is nothing to take lightly. Thanks Chris for all the hard work you put in to keep us safe and informed. Hope you get out of twitter jail soon!
For some of you who long for the good ole days, here’s a snippet from the NWS Louisville office.
“6 January 1996 β A major snow storm hit central Kentucky and southern Indiana on January 6-7. The snow began around noon Saturday and stopped Sunday afternoon. Totals were from 6 to 15 inches.”
Bad timing to bring that up.
Temp has fallen from 58 here yesterday afternoon to 2 above now! With the wind it feels colder than I’ve felt it in a long time.
Wow
Thunder snow in east KY. What made that skip my part as the front came through? I mean we did have very heavy snow for about an hour, but I didn’t hear thunder. I have seen thunder snow before though in the 80s and 90s. But even then, I don’t remember temps “this cold”, even with DEEP snow!
I reported last night thunder snow in southern lex!
As expected roads are solid ice very little snow
It is safe to say about 90 percent of the forecast didn’t pan out.
The entire state was under a one to four inch snowfall. Most didn’t more than a dusting on their decks, patios, and cars.
The local Mets in Louisville are saying the snow was never the story. Well, it was just 48 hours ago, when Winter Storm Warnings were in effect with 3-6″ possible. That makes this entire event completely different if this occurs.
Wind chills won’t be -35, lows won’t be -8, and the brutal by some standards, will be gone by Wednesday with no snow pack.
2-3 inches of snow here in Leslie County, up to 4 inches in highest elevations, and yes, we have a lot of people living at these higher elevations. Everything covered with snow, trees, roads, etc. Temp down to 17, and dropping. Snow showers continuing, upslope in full swing!
Five degrees here in Se Lincoln county and still falling, windchill -14 and light snow still. Few inches on the ground at least. Not about to set foot outdoors to measure it. π
-1 in Valley Station but appears to have leveled off. I only had a dusting last night.
I’m wondering just how many of us will see additional snow today (outside the normal upslope areas of east KY). Local forecast calls for scattered flurries. Doesn’t really sound like snow squalls/showers per the NWS forecast. Will the breaks in clouds cause enough instability for squalls and snow showers? Guess we’ll see once the sun gets higher in the sky–not that it gets very high this time of year. π
ok this one is now behind us and I noticed chris mentioned it comes roaring back after next week ……. but sites like weatherundergound and accuweather doesn’t match it …. they have temps in 40s/50s practically the whole month of Jan. So my question, where does the info come from that chris uses and the other sites uses ??
That’s what happens when people take models verbatim.
I just can’t believe someone actually believes accuweather and weather underground! :p I tease I tease. However those sites tend to be very inaccurate. Every 24 hours they seem to tell completely different stories.
Accuweather was calling for 40’s today about a week ago so do not ever go by them more than three days out
Accuweather and other places did not have this bitter cold when Chris first discussing it either. I like to look everywhere but take Chris at what he says. He may be wrong occasionally (we all are) but the is still more accurate than they are. Not saying he will be right here as that is a ways out in weather terms but there is a good possibility he could be on to something.
actually you both are very wrong …. they may not be correct all the time, but in my area they have been dead on all winter. and yes they mentioned this bitter cold over a week ago and they might have missed it a few degree but it was still on their site …. and it looks like they nailed this week too …. I posted a week ago what they had and it looks like the temps will be right at or off a few degrees. I think chris does a good job but I am adult enough to realize he can be wrong and others right …. but come on it kills some of you to admit anything !!
Please accuweather can’t forecast anything accurate (especially in the winter) within 48 hours…they had no hint of this on the 15 day forecast until Thursday at the earliest…I check that everyday especially when Chris is saying something totally against what they are saying…hell the NWS was not even talking about the polar vortex until Thursday either…
Amen to that Tim. Toke the words from my mouth and no, SummerBreeze, Accuweather did not say anything about an arctic outbreak a week ago or longer. After CB first mentioned it on here, I checked out all the other weather sites to see what they had to say and no other site or service even mentioned it. π
Took the words out of my moth, that is….
Fancy colors
Sorry that some of us didn’t get much snow with this one. We have around 3 inches in Laurel County, but have gotten lots of rain while others have been enjoying previous, much larger, snows. It all comes out in the wash. Enjoy your day. So glad to be enjoying such a beautiful snow. Might as well be pretty if it’s going to be so cold. Be safe!
Where in Laurel are you? We live off 363, not had a chance to measure, but just guessing we picked up 2″
London, near downtown. 2.5 inches in front, 3.5 in back (windy side). Wondering if periodic sunshine will condense snow.
what little snow I got is going bye bye thanks to the sun
You guys deserve to get some snow finally after all the heavy rains you have gotten.
c-BIV, I completely agree with you. The snow was hyped up by most Lou. Mets and it had been for nearly a week prior to the event. The Euro model first got everyones attention, then it lost it and the GFS and NAM picked it up, then they lost it 24 hours prior to the event. But NWS did say it was a tough forecast.
Snowing again in Casey Co. Sun was out 15 mins ago. Wind is horrible and it’s colllllld!
well the polar vortex decided to make a visit to east tn. as well….about 1/2″ of snow here in athens tn. and temps. continue to plummit as well..down to 17* as of 9 am…thats cold…for down here ..hope all my old weather weenies in ky…got some snow…I know my son is sending me pictures from knox co. showing about 2″ in their yard….take care and stay warm!!!
stinking mountain top π
got about half an maybe slightly more the closer you get to town I turned around at Pritchard Branch
Well, if I add what snow we got here last night, a whopping half an inch, that takes us to 4 inches for the winter. We only got 3 inches all of last year. Winning.
Cbiv is not really correct. Here in Crab Orchard it is 3 with a wind chill of probably -17 or so.
Agree Jeff
Still snowing in Clay County. We have about 2 inches here in our area. Very cold!!!
Is the wind going to slack off later today? Right now my area has the highest on the chart.
Not fun for my critters or me.
Our highest gust so far for Knox happened about 10:30 last night we had 40 mph
Still snowing in Pikeville this morning.
It will probably be off and on most the day for Eastern people
Looks like my prediction of 4 inches was right for eastern Ky..Still snowing..
Berea reporting in with 1.50″. Interestingly enough, 1.25″ of that fell right at the temp change as the front went through, and did it quickly in about 20-30 minutes. Sadly, the sun is already coming out and murdering the snow even at these temps.
Forecast was for 1-4″ last night and today, with the stipulation that the vast majority of the snow wouldn’t fall with the low pressure system moving through. 1.50″ received thus far, though all but a 1/4″ fell right along with the change in temps and not during the overnight as stated. Even still, the minimum accumulation was met and that means an overall successful forecast for the city.
Jan record is 1 – 1
Seasonal record is 3-5
Total snow accumulation moves to 3.75″ since Oct.
This is what the poor young lady minding the gas pumps at Costco looks like this morning.
http://i.imgur.com/v098XpJ.jpg
Are you THE LD who does PI?
closeing in on 5 in at my neck of the woods here in knott co.ky,makes about 8in we have got in less than a week all together
oh and she is still a comeing down pretty good
What a Louisville BUST! But that’s not my issue. The reporting has been comical!!! If I wasn’t already done with the media and their hype, I am now…. *COUGH*Wave3*Cough*β¦ I could care less about snow amounts but I do need to know decent info due to my winter job (snow and ice removal.)
They are still trying to tell us this morning that local roads are frozen over due to the flash freezeβ¦. HUH?! Well, I was out from 9pm to 2 am this morning doing our road routes. By midnight, the roads were DRY. Salt trucks were parked soon after. There was about a 30 minute period around 10:30 pm with some very thin glossy slick spots. Then they were gone! But yet we still get told this morning roads are iced over. What a joke. Tons of comments on Facebook basically saying, “Ummβ¦ huh? Roads are fine, Wave3..”
Tominlou…Can’t agree with you more. I have 13 properties I take care of in and around the Highlands. It is frustrating when you are spending other people’s money to keep them and there clients safe and nothing happens except a cold rain. They need to get rid of all the models and just now cast. Quit all the hype as it only sends us into confusion of when/when not to salt. I Believe Kentucky winters are the hardest to forecast of all states in the nation. Just never know what your going to get until it is here. As for Wave 3 they have a pretty big market besides Lou. they have to be sure they cover them all. Two of my lots last night where very slick and needed to be salted (not that it works very well in these temps) but all streets were fine. I personally go off Belski he seems to hit it the best of all the locals. Have a good day.
To be fair, where I am located in S. IN (in their viewing area), road WERE covered and icy and extremely treacherous. The viewing area doesn’t stop with the metro.
I understand your frustration. Just imagine how it would be if they would under-predict because of the trend though. Predict little to know snow and then we get a huge ice and snow slap that puts power out to millions and nobody is prepared. Happened around here in 1994. Went to bed with no thought of the storm that happened. Then over 2 weeks without power.
This more highlights the challenges these forecaster have. 6 hours out radar shows it moving and on track. Then some shift happen or it speeds up. They have a tough job and take a lot of heat. That is why I think the job Chris does is amazing. He is, many times, way ahead of the pack.
I recall in 1994 when the temperatures were way below zero, like 22 below here in Louisville, that I could stand in a location away from rooftops, treetops, cartops, muffintops, whatever, but the wind was calm and the sky was clear, yet ice crystals were sparkling around and floating to the ground.
They call it Diamond dust and only occurs in very cold conditions. But, I think it may be too windy to observe any today.
Well, the snow was definitely a bust in my neck of the woods. Maybe a half inch. The cold is very serious, but as Chris says, will ease by late week. That’s probably a good thing. One thing for sure: this winter is unlike many previous winters with real snow chances and cold. I did get 7″ a month ago today so it’s hard to whine too much. Let’s hope the next cold round brings more snow chances. We still have more than two months of opportunity. π
I like your attitude!
only have a dusting of snow here but the wind is still blowing pretty hard with snow off and on all morning and it is COLD. Temp is now at 14 deg but feels MUCH colder! Stay safe and warm!
Currently London is back into a nice snow squall. Winds blowing, reduced visibilities. Be careful out there.
i would have to say this storm underachieved alot after some promise 48 hrs before the storm …its hard to imagine in this day and age …weather models and all that fun stuff can be off this much … amazing
Ok…Will JCPS cancel school for Tuesday???? Going to be colder tomorrow morning than it was today.
We didn’t even get enough snow to cover my deck. No “flash freeze” occurred here either.
Seems like from Louisville to Frankfort the snow died last night then refires near Lexington and south and east! I live about 20 miles from Lexington in east Frankfort and hardly any snow fell, so it was a BUST in my zone! Congrats to those who got snow!
Ready for the warmup, dry cold is as bad as 33 degree rain in my book!
It’s time to face a sad reality. There is simply no reason to be a snow and cold lover in the Louisville area. Only in Louisville can we have heavy rain and then, just 6 to 8 hours later, have zero degree temperatures. Is it too much to expect that one might go with the other? I guess so.
Who knows where the rest of the winter heads, by all accounts it looks cold, but I will be dubious of any model that shows sizable snow in Kentucky. While eastern portions of the state will always do well with upslope snows, no region in the country suffers more near misses than the central Kentucky regions (SDF, LEX, FFT, BWG).
Until I’m physically sticking a measuring stick in the snow to check the depth, I won’t believe it.
I’m with you, had enough let downs, every winter event in frankfort has been under what was forecast and that’s up to about 5 events now!
When was the last time a storm outperformed instead of underperforming? I have no idea.
In Frankfort probably 1996
And 1998
Some of those March clippers did.
That’s true, had 5 inches a few marches ago!
I’m in Madison, Indiana right on the Ohio RIver and it’s -3 below. At 7am it was 2 above. Still very windy and once in a while you’ll look out and see very fine (almost misty) snow flying about.
The usual here in Middlesboro, 1/2″ – 3/4″ on the deck. Sun shining brightly, 11 degrees and falling. My street is clear and reports are that the Cumberland Gap Tunnel is completely clear with traffic flowing freely on both KY and TN sides as is US25E through Bell county and most roads and streets here in town.
With the sun, hopefully this nuisance will be completely melted with the Wednesday thaw. Bring on Spring!!!!
sun peeking out is melting what little snow we got in Knox County
Folks stayed off the roads last night in Lexington… helped to keep my employees dry and warm. We appreciated it!
Snowing again here. Roads are white.
It’s High noon and zero degrees in Lexington (per mesonet)
I think that’s amazing! Of course BGA is 2 degrees warmer.
This is a first for me in my entire life. Growing up in western NC, we never had daytime/afternoon temps this low even with deep snow.
A first for me as well. I’ve experienced about 3 below, but only at night.
I was only about one year old in Jan 1985 (when Nashville TN dropped to minus 17). I don’t seem to have much memory of Dec 1989 other than being very well bundled up by my parents but part of my face were still stinging a bit.
January of 1985 was the most impressive cold front I’ve ever seen. It dropped temps in Gainesville and Jacksonville to the single digits, about -10 in Atlanta, and in the 20’s all the way to Miami. I think Lexington was about the same as Nashville–only difference, we had about 1 inch of snow Nashville had 6. This might give you a better idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhzrtQW-In8
Question – when you see a temp reading of -0, what is that? I mean, is there a 0, then -0, then -1? Or is it just 0, then the next degree is -1
I was wondering the same thing. Perhaps it a temperature between 0 and -1. Very strange.
Good question. I always thought -0 meant that the digital readout was less than zero such as -0.4 degrees thus not quite -1. Conversely, 0 degrees may actually read 0.4 degrees but not quite 1 degree.
There is 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc….then between zero and -1 degree there is -0.1, -0.2, -0.3 etc…its a reading between degrees, just be glad we don’t measure in celcius because the .’s make a bigger difference in celcius, not so much in farenheit
Here in (Jenkins ) Letcher Co. At my house it’s 15 degrees, gusty winds, because of the wind gust I really don’t know exactly how much snow but somewhere around 2 or more inches and I’m thinking on the more side of that. The snow squals keep coming.
So that brings me to this question . When is it to cold to snow? I’ve heard that all my life, but today that saying is busted!
11 deg now here outside of Flatwoods! Husband came home for lunch to go ahead and feed and ck on all of the animals for it gets any colder!!! Stay safe!
Eight degrees currently in Nashville TN. My car didn’t warm up this morning until I arrived at work and by that time my feet and toes(dressed only in white collar dress shoes/socks) were starting to go numb!
it is 8 here now! We have a farm and my husband and son went out to feed and ck on the animals and they said everything was freezing on contact, they had ice form on their coats, My son even said his glove froze to the handlebars on the 4 wheeler, he pulled his hand off and the glove stayed! Stay safe!!!
Well the cold air arrived as scheduled, just seems wasted without a lot of snow around, looks like warmer air and rain chances by late week, no mention of backside flurries yet π
I can do without the -20 windchill. How bout a nice day in the 20’s with a good foot of snow on the ground! π
Perfect!
I had forgotten about the physics of very cold air.
Things like train whistles and jet planes are a lot louder in these frigid temps π .
…well, I suppose a better way to say it is that super cold air conducts sound better.
Wow, we now have a nice deep snowpack to our north, including St Louis and Indianapolis. This season already had one of the most widespread snowpacks in Canada in many years. This could really help future Arctic cold waves keep more of their frigidness as they plunge our way.
Minus 15 in Indy this morning, much colder than Louisville as frigid as the Ville was. Goes to show what a deep snowpack can do.
The forecast is for above freezing weather and rain even pretty far north by weeks end, so I would say a lot of that goes away soon!
Very light snow falling in frankfort at the moment with the temp at 0, very rare sight!
And look at the mesonet. The entire state is in the single digits at 2:10 P.M. EST.
It’s reported that a fairly rare event may happen tomorrow in a few parts of Florida panhandle – some spots may fail to go above freezing! I’d imagine that areas right along the Alabama line but away from the relatively warm Gulf waters would be most at risk.
I’ve vaguely recall that Jacksonville FL has only had like five recorded days of sub-freezing temps ever.
Forrtunately, Orlando will only drop to the upper 20s at night, so the citrus crop may dodge a bullet…………..this time.
Do you know the difference in OJ and prune juice, prune juice helps you go to the bathroom but OJ might Kill Ya π
I know bad joke!
It is rare. My wife is from Orlando. I believe in the January of ’85 event they had a day with a high in the Mid to Upper 30’s and a low in the Upper teens. I could not imagine it being that cold in Orlando. I’ve been in Gainesville when it hit the teens–that happens with some frequency.
I read (I was not even one year old in Jan 85) that not only was the central Florida citrus crop devastated in 1985, the citrus trees themselves froze up and were literally exploding – the trunks have water in them. Sounded like gunshots going off during the night. Must had had been terrible sounds for the farmers to hear.
Laurel County – went to run some errands just a bit ago and many “city” roads are still snow/iced over. Other roads are wet and sure to freeze back over as the sun lowers. Drove through an impressive squall with very low visibility. Our road was plowed, but wind blown snow covers much of it now. Interesting day indeed. I wonder if we’ll go to school 3 days this week…maybe 2??
I would say Knox will go 0 days depending on what weather does on Thursday/friday
Chris has stated that this Might not be the last polar vortex visit, wonder what time frame he is thinking the next one shows itself ??
read his post….he has maps posted with dates
Thanks, over looked that.
In my 50 years of life in KY I’ve witnessed 105 degree summer temps and temps in winter as low as -27!
Not to many places in the world that has 130 plus degree swings from winter to summer!
Many thanks for you very accurate and hard work in forcasting the weather CB!
100% accurate here in eastern kentucky
Next time I will also forecast a toe to ankle biter π My ankle biter (2″ to 3″) was wrong for most. Negative Bubba buster.
No updates required today. LOL
Minus one degree at my location here in Leslie County. Wind chill reading of -14 F. Only ventured outside today to walk my dogs. I agree that the forecast was very accurate for eastern KY. Check on your neighbors and stay safe.
One degree in Richmond and if I round up, 1″ of snow. The wind makes it colder, but it pretty much dried out the driving and walking surfaces before the expected flash freeze frenzy could take place. heck, even my son’s car just had salt on it and no frozen stuff. Mighty wind, savior of the much talked and feared flash freeze!
Can not recall a cold winter event with so much extreme produce so little frozen stuff. Well, if it were forecast as an ice storm, you could pretty much have guaranteed THAT would have happened.
Is this the “dome” I hear so much about?? π
http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/CustomGraphic/scover.gif