By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
While record cold happened in parts of the Northern and Northeast U.S. this weekend, it also marks the 25th anniversary of the snowstorm that dumped up to two feet of snow in Kentucky between Feb. 3-6, 1998.
The National Weather Service Louisville (NWS) office says it was caused by a strong area of low pressure that moved up the east coast, while at the same time a cold dome of high pressure dropped down from Canada to the Great Lakes. The combination resulted in widespread snow from the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys to southern New England, including most of Kentucky.
1998 snowfall map from National Weather Service/Louisville
Louisville recorded 22.4 inches of snow during that period, which still stands as the city’s highest three-day total. Lexington checked in with 17.4 inches.
The NWS office in Wilmington, Ohio says it was the same in Northern Kentucky.
The Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport in Boone County received 18.5 inches, which was a new record total for a single storm. Numerous traffic accidents occurred as the snow fell too fast for road crews to keep the roads clear.
In Jackson, the weather office there says they picked up 17.6 inches at their building, with amounts of two feet or more recorded north of Interstate 64. Eastern Kentucky experienced thundersnow, tree damage, collapsed roofs and power outages that lasted up to several weeks.
Western Kentucky was not totally immune from the effects either. Paducah’s weather office reported snow up to a foot in Webster and Henderson counties, with amounts tapering off west of there, down to no accumulation in parts of the Purchase area.
The NWS says this winter storm was unusual for Kentucky due to its longevity, high snowfall amounts and that the moisture source was not the Gulf of Mexico, which is more common, but actually the Atlantic Ocean.
Five people died in Kentucky as a result of the Feb. 1998 snowstorm.
