The Coldest Winter In Kentucky January 1994

Winter in Kentucky can be wildly unpredictable, with some seasons bringing lots of ice and “wintry mixes” (Kentuckians get it), and some passing from fall to spring with relatively no precipitation or chilly temps. But not the winter of 1994. The coldest temperatures in Kentucky happened during the winter of 1994, when an Arctic blast ushered in record-breaking, sub-zero conditions.

Winter in Kentucky typically doesn’t look like this.

wbrentprice/Flickr

If it snows in Kentucky, it’s generally a dusting that’s melted away by the time the afternoon rolls around.

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If we have a cold spell, it’s maybe a few days of below-freezing temperatures before the mercury bounces and chilly – yet bearably mild – temps return.

Don Sniegowski/Wikimedia Commons

But the winter of 1994 was anything but ordinary. January 18-20 slammed the Bluegrass State with sub-zero temperatures that came on top of a massive snowstorm in the days prior.

JOgdenC/Flickr

In the days leading up to the cold snap, roughly 15 inches and as many as 26 inches fell across Kentucky, including a new record of 15.9 inches in Louisville. Snow drifts of up to 10 feet were reported, too.

Jamie Smed/Flickr

Known as the 1994 North American Cold Wave, two notable cold air events took place January 18–19 and then on January 21–22.

Kevin Barry/Wikipedia

Because of the thick snow pack, the cold temperatures essentially put Kentucky into a deep freeze. There were 67 minimum temperature records set across the country on January 19, including a Kentucky record of negative 37 Fahrenheit in Shelbyville.

NOAA Central Library Data Imaging Project/Wikipedia

In eastern Kentucky, some towns were completely cut off due to the snow and were only accessible by helicopter. The blizzard had prompted then-Gov. Brereton Jones to order five interstate highways in Kentucky to be shut down for five days, with hundreds of cars stranded on the roads.

Kentucky National Guard/Flickr

Nearly 30 years later, these records still stand, and folks still talk about the winter of 1994 in Kentucky, the coldest and snowiest in recent history.

James St. John/Wikimedia Commons

Do you remember the winter of 1994? This three-day spell of sub-zero temperatures has yet to be repeated, and we hope it stays that way!