8th Anniversary of Historic Ice Storm

Hard to believe, especially with the weather we’ve had recently, but 8 years ago today, the area was being hit with the worst ice storm many have ever experienced. Then-Kentucky Governor Steven L. Besmear called it “the biggest natural disaster in modern Kentucky history.” People were left without power for days, some even for weeks. How did this happen?

Surface observations valid for 6pm on January 26, 2009. (Plymouth State Weather Center Archive)

The surface temperatures late in the evening on January 26, 2009 were below freezing. This lead to widespread mix and snow across the region.Areas across Kentucky saw snow amounts up to 6 inches in some spots! In fact, areas just to our north and east over portions of eastern Missouri and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana saw up to 10″, leading to isolated roof collapses and making travel impossible.

Snow accumulations across the NWS Paducah area.

However, a weather system was approaching that brought temperatures above the surface above freezing, creating the perfect conditions for the worst winter weather has to offer: freezing rain.

When you have precipitation falling through a column of above-freezing temperatures but hitting a sub-freezing surface, it results in ice accretion. By late on the 27th, much of the state had already gotten a glaze as the freezing rain had fallen all morning and it only got worse throughout the day.

Ice on power lines in Glasgow. (Alison Ferrell via NWS Louisville)

The ice storm was fully underway by the afternoon of the 27th, where some areas in southern and western Kentucky were already approaching a half-inch of ice, which by itself is crippling but when you consider that there was even more ice on the way, it’s devastating.

Tree in Greenville, KY during the afternoon of January 27. (Matt Jarvis via NWS Paducah)

Tree damage in front of the NWS Paducah building. (David Blanchard, NWS Paducah)

According to NWS Paducah, 90+% of southwestern Kentucky was without power by late in the evening on the 27th. In some rural areas, crews were unable to get power back on for several weeks. It was Kentucky’s largest ever power outage.

By the morning of the 28th, temperature in the upper levels had risen high enough for the freezing rain to transition into plain old rain. But the damage was already done in much of our region.

Ice accumulations across the state of Kentucky from the January 2009 Ice Storm. (NWS Louisville)

Overall, this was perhaps some of the most severe winter weather our area had seen in decades, a truly historic snow and ice storm that will live on in the minds of many for generations.