Critical Fire Weather in the High Plains; Heavy Snow in the Western Mountains and Northern Plains

Gusty winds and low relative humidity will bring critical fire weather to the central and southern High Plains Wednesday. Two Pacific storms will continue impacting the mountains of the western U.S. into Thursday with gusty winds and heavy snow. Heavy snow and gusty winds will continue to impact the northern Plains into the central Great Lakes Wednesday. Read More >

Overview

An area of low pressure tracked across the Cumberland Valley spreading Gulf of America moisture northward over a very cold air mass the night of Wednesday December 15th and the morning of Thursday December 16th, 2010. This resulted in a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow falling across eastern Kentucky, with significant accumulations of ice and snow for many areas.

The precipitation began west of I-75 early in the evening on Wednesday December 15th as freezing rain, with a little snow and sleet mixed in. As the precipitation advanced northeastward during the evening, it fell largely as snow. Warmer air progressing northward above the surface brought a changeover to freezing rain from south to north overnight, with the changeover occurring all the way to the Mountain Parkway by dawn on Thursday. The precipitation fell largely as snow for the entire event north of the Mountain Parkway.


Nearly 1/3 of an inch of ice accumulated on top of over 1 inch of snow at NWS Jackson.

Snow/Ice
Liquid Precipitation
Temperatures
Surface Analysis & Radar Composite Charts

Snow/Ice

Snowfall Reports
Inches	Location	County
6.0	Cranston	Rowan
5.0	Flemingsburg	Fleming
4.0	Morehead	Rowan
4.0	Inez	Martin
4.0	Sandy Hook	Elliott
4.0	Flatgap	Johnson
4.0	West Liberty	Morgan
4.0	2 W Hazel Green	Wolfe
4.0	Frenchburg	Menifee
4.0	Owingsville	Bath

Ice/Sleet Reports
Inches	Location	County
0.75	Williamsburg	Whitley
0.50	Buckhorn	Perry
0.50	Mount Vernon	Rockcastle
0.50	Pineville	Bell
0.50	Harlan	Harlan
0.50	Barbourville	Knox
0.40	8 NNE Pikeville	Pike
0.33	2 W Stanton	Powell
0.30	4 NE Jackson	Breathitt
0.25	Royalton	Magoffin