Winter storm preparation in central Kentucky is focusing more on ice accumulation than any sizeable snowfall. During a Monday briefing Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said that makes it even more important to stay home if at all possible.
Lexington Fire Chief Jason Wells said his crews had responded to ice related injuries. “We have had several potentially weather-related incidents including ten persons injured from slip and fall incidents and one structural fire that was related to heating,” explained Wells.
Wells reminded residents to dispose of ashes from a wood stove or fireplace in a metal container away from combustibles. Streets and Roads Director Rob Allen said crews are prepared to deal with a mix of precipitation, not knowing where the line of freezing rain will fall.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Haley Stuckey in Jackson said varying temperatures aloft make predicting winter storms’ precipitation makeup difficult at times. Weekend forecasts called for several inches of snow possible across central Kentucky. Stuckey noted it’s now expected to be more of an ice event than snow for these counties. “It’s more so kind of shifted north and west kind of as the warmer air has kind of trended northward, it made it more so that the dominant precipitation type is less snow and more a freezing rain mixing with sleet,” said Stuckey.
For now, Stuckey said it appears some of the larger ice accumulations could be seen in communities like Somerset, Mount Vernon, and McKee. After a one-day break, Stuckey added another mixed precipitation event is scheduled to come across Kentucky Wednesday into Friday.
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