Western Kentucky's Winter Storm Brought 8 to 10 Inches of Snow

On January 26, 2010 the National Weather Center announced a winter storm warring for the greater Southeast portion of the United States such as KY, IL, TN, MO, GA, OH and Virginia. The forecast said that the storm will bring with it temperatures that will get into the freezing mark and there will be a accumulation of 6 to 8 inches of snow and ice. For those of you who may not be aware, last year at the same time the National Weather Center sent out a winter storm warning that brought with it 4 inches of solid ice, that crippled our tri-state area for over 1 month. Here in Western Kentucky, we were the hardest to get hit by last year's storm. The announcement of this new storm came across on 1-27-10 with the snow fall to begin at roughly Thursday at midnight on 1-28-10. The storm did not arrive until 11:30 am on 1-29-10, but it did whip into our area here in Western Kentucky and by 3 pm the storm was in full force. I had to travel out in the mess, to get my son to a Doctor appointment and run to the store for some needed staples to assist us in getting through another possible tragedy, like last year.

When last year's storm hit, it hit with such ferocity that our emergency Road Department was not expecting what was to come. After the storm of 2009 hit, the Western part of Kentucky, including us here in "Murray", Kentucky. There was total chaos.There was nothing really planned out, so when we saw the first days aftermath, with all the down trees, roofs caved in, hundred and thousands were with out water and power for a full month. Western Kentucky became a stat of emergency and the government brought in the National Guard to help in the clean up efforts and to distribute, food, clothing, and water supplies.

So when we here in Western Kentucky hear that the National Weather Center has issued another winter storm warning for our area, the people of Western Kentucky did not react lightly, the day before the storm was total chaos at the stores. All the milk and bread in all the stores in Murray, KY were gone before I could get off work, by the time I arrived the shelves appeared to have been looted. I guess the people of our community did not want to be caught off guard like they were last year. I have spoke with several of my neighbors about the up-coming storm and what they think, and I have gotten the same reaction." As long as the power and water stay on we should be okay" On the other hand, on of my neighbor states that the potential for the snow to become icy, wet and heavy we could start to see some of the same damage as 2009 Ice Storm. Most of the feelings are uneasiness, uncertainty and anxiousness.

Over about a 18 hour period of time from 1-29-10 to 1-30-10 we were left with freezing temperatures and I measured 7 ½ inches of snow. There were minimal road accidents within this time, was reported to be 8 accidents during the storm, 1 fire (non related) and just lost of snow. The accidents that were reported were on Murray, KY main HWY 641 and 121 S and US68/80 HWY.

After running my errands my family and myself, hunkered down by the fireplace played cards, watched movies and prayed for all of our neighbors in our community were warm and comfortable in their home as we were in ours.

When we woke the next day I found that the entire area had been blanketed with 7 ½ inches of this beautiful brilliant white blanket that was covering the landscape. I do believe that we all thought that we would be in a much worse situation, but lucky for us, we just got the snow, no ice accumulation at all.

According to the Calloway County Emergency Response Team, there were only a few that lost power and some residents did wake up to some frozen pipes, but no major damage was detected. I want to give thanks to all the road workers that were out at all hours of the night to ensure that we had drivable roads. I also want to give thanks to a local company by the name of "Mitchell Brothers Paving" Guy Mitchell (owner) and Scott Lincoln (operator), Guy and Scott spent 10 hours on 1-30-10 in the city of Murray removing the built up snow out of the local business to ensure that they could open their doors. Murray was ready for this storm, the salt trucks were out in force for 24 hours before the storm hit, salting the roads. The Emergency Broadcast system here in Western Kentucky announced this storm by calling all their residents via the telephone to warn them of the impending storm to come. Out of my husbands 10 years in Kentucky, this was the first time the emergency systems made house to house calls informing their community of the impending winter storm warning.

All in all if you compare this storm to last years 2009 Ice Storm, I think we faired very well. Our town is in full operation and all the children and animals in the neighborhood are frolicking and playing in the snow. Right at this moment all the main roads are free of snow and they are now working on the back country roads.

There were several school closings, I will list the local counties in my area that closed their schools.

Calloway
Graves
Trigg
Marshall
Henry

I have up loaded several pictures from last years storm and this years storm so my readers can see the difference in the devastation, the pictures will be marked with the year they were taken.

References for this article are souly from my personal experiance living here in the Southeast in Western Kentucky (Murray/Calloway Co.)

Referneces www.weather.com and www.thesouther.com