Roads are snow-covered and temperatures are as cold as advertised this morning after an Arctic air mass plunged into Western Kentucky last night.
Hopkinsville Police Sgt. Matt Overby describes streets as treacherous, a dispatcher at Christian County ECC says there have been numerous motorists slide off the Pennyrile Parkway and I-24, Todd County Sheriff’s Deputy Derrick Baumann says be on the lookout for black ice in addition to the snow and dispatchers in Trigg County also report snow-covered roadways.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray says it’ll be important to stay at home if you can until local and state crews can make progress on clearing roads.
The bigger story is the historic cold, with a Wind Chill Warning in effect until noon and a Wind Chill Advisory from noon today until noon Christmas Eve. Wind chills could be as low as -30 today and -10 to -20 through Saturday morning.
Governor Andy Beshear says these conditions can become dangerous quickly and he urges families to check on loved ones who may be vulnerable.
There will be a warming shelter open at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen on East Seventh Street through Sunday night from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., in addition to the normal shelter and kitchen hours, according to Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham. Coffee Connection on South Main Street will be open from 8 until 3 Friday and Christmas Eve and from 9 until 4 Christmas Day.
In the event of power outages, there will be warming shelters in the Crofton Tornado Safe Room and at the Fairview, Lafayette, Pembroke, Northwest and Westside volunteer fire departments.
Warming stations will be open if needed at the 911 center and The Way in Cadiz and Todd County Emergency Management Director Daniel Smith says they are prepared to open warming stations and encourages anyone needing help to contact the dispatch center.
Pennyrile Electric crews have been out in the cold all night dealing with numerous outages, with about 1,200 members still in the dark as of about 6:45 a.m., with over 200 in the Trenton area. Brent Gilkey with Pennyrile says some of the outages are due to the wind and others due to the unusually high demand.
HES General Manager Jeff Hurd says they’ve had a few minor issues, but no large outages yet.
If there are power outages, Kentucky Emergency Management Director Jeremy Slinker says remember to never run a generator indoors, as it could lead to fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
Clinker reminds residents to also take care of their pets by bringing them inside if at all possible and to provide a place of shelter and supply of unfrozen water to any animals who must remain outdoors.
Stay tuned to the WHOP Family of Stations for the latest on this winter weather system and find a list of closings and cancellations on our websites.