National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Fire Weather Concerns in the Southern Plains and Southeast; Pacific System to Bring Unsettled Weather to the West Coast

Gusty winds and dry conditions will continue to bring elevated to critical fire weather conditions to the southern Plains and Southeast early this week. A Pacific storm system will bring low elevation rain and heavy high elevation mountain snow to northern and central California through early week, expanding into the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and southern California on Tuesday. Read More >

Overview

A weather disturbance aloft interacted with a cold front over southeast Kentucky to bring widespread snow to the area during the early morning hours of February 7th. A band of very heavy snowfall developed from Whitley and Bell Counties through Harlan and Letcher Counties. Within this band of snowfall, amounts ranged from 4 to 9 inches. The snow was very wet and heavy in nature, which led to several down branches and trees. This in turn, knocked out power for several thousand customers during the morning hours. Travel was also very difficult as snowfall rates exceeded 2 inches per hour at times, making it nearly impossible to keep the roads cleared off. Travel across the higher ridgetops above 2000 feet was especially treacherous as temperatures in these areas were much colder and saw the higher accumulations.