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Warren roads a 'skating rink'; Butler gets 18 inches

Pat Grubb cleaning his driveway before he heads out on the roads.  Big thank you to the County, City, and State Road Crews.

Snow began to taper off this morning, but many roads remain treacherous as a layer of ice covers the ground.

“It’s a skating rink,” said meteorologist Landon Hampton, founder of weather blog wxornotbg.com. “Once that snow got packed down, (the ice) doesn’t go anywhere.”

Bowling Green got 6 to 8 inches of snow and ice, and more was dumped on nearby counties. Grayson County got 20 inches. In the Butler County community of Rochester, Mayor Horace Hammers measured 18 inches.

“I’ve been here 73 years. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Hammers said. “You’re trapped. It’s just impassable.”

Rochester is along the Green River, which so far is experiencing only minor flooding, he said.

“We’ve survived all these years. I guess we’ll make it another one,” Hammers said.

Butler County Judge-Executive David Fields said “everything is pretty much at a standstill.”

His priority now is getting roads cleared, but he’s worried about the river flooding when the snow begins to melt.

“We’re not in a flood right now,” Fields said. “But when this stuff melts, I don’t know. That’s when it’s most critical.”

The National Weather Service reported that Ohio County received 23 inches of snow, and about 21.5 inches fell in Radcliff and Cynthiana.

Kentucky Department of Highways District 3 road crews spent most of their efforts keeping I-65 cleared, so it could be some time before other roads are plowed, district spokesman Wes Watt said.

“We’re working as hard and fast as we can to get those roads cleared,” Watt said.

Heavy rain that fell across the region Wednesday made it impossible to pre-treat roads, he said. He encouraged people not to go out on the roads unless they have to.

“If folks have to be out, it’s very important for them to check road conditions and really use caution,” Watt said. “It’s also very important, if motorists have to be out, to be on the lookout for our trucks and snowplows and leave them plenty of space. You can’t treat them like a normal vehicle, because they aren’t.”

To find out about road conditions, call 511 or 1-866-737-3767 or visit www.511.ky.gov.

Though the snow is expected to stop by this afternoon, temperatures will drop rapidly after the sun goes down, Hampton said.

Overnight, it could get down to minus 1, which would be a record low. The record low for March 6 in Bowling Green is 1, which happened in 1960, according to data from the National Weather Service.

“If we don’t break it, I think we’ll tie,” Hampton said.

The sun should come out Friday, “but the sun can be a big deceiver,” because highs will be in the 30s Friday, he said.

It will get above freezing Saturday, with highs in the 40s, and it will continue to get warmer Sunday, when the high will be around 50, Hampton said.

By Laurel Wilson
Bowling Green Daily News
A Service of the Kentucky Press Association

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