Winter Storm in Kentucky, January 25, 2004

Name: Winter Storm in Kentucky, January 25, 2004
Start: 2004-01-25T15:30
End: 2004-01-25T20:00
Location: Kentucky

January 25, 2004 · NWS ILN · 12 events in 12 counties and zones

Low pressure overspread the Ohio Valley and produced significant icing along and south of the Ohio River. North of the river, snowfall totals averaged 4 to 6 inches.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 12 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 12

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS ILN wrote it up.

Low pressure overspread the Ohio Valley and produced significant icing along and south of the Ohio River. North of the river, snowfall totals averaged 4 to 6 inches.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 25, 1:16 PM EST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 25, 1:16 PM EST, 2 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
116 PM EST SUN JAN 25 2004

.UPDATE...
TEMPS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE OUT OF THE TEENS AND LOWER 20S...SO HAVE
LOWERED TEMPS A FEW DEGREES ALL BUT MIAMI VLY AND CNTRL OH FOR
REMAINDER OF AFTN.  SN NOW FALLING ACRS SOUTHERN 1/2 FCST
AREA...WITH CONDITIONS HAVING DETEORIRATED RAPIDLY HERE AT ILN OVER
THE LAST 45 MINUTES.  DRY SLOT OVER CNTRL KY HAS FILLED BACK
IN...AND WITH UPR LO MOVNG ACRS MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS...REINFORCING
SWATH OF PCPN QUICKLY SPREADING NORTH AND EAST ATTM.  MID LVL
DEFORMATION ZONE AXIS SHIFTING INTO FCST AREA ATTM...AND MODELS
TRACKING THIS AXIS SLOWLY NORTHEAST OVER NEXT FOUR TO FIVE HOURS.
RESULT WILL BE MODERATE TO HEAVY SN FOR REST OF AFTN OVERSPREADING
ENTIRE FCST AREA WITH PL/FZRA BEGINNING TO MIX IN ALONG AND SOUTH OF
OHIO RIVER.

UPDATE ALREADY OUT.  MID MORNING DISCUSSION FOLLOWS.  ALL WARNINGS
CONTINUE.

RYAN

---------------------------------------------------------------------

WAITING FOR PCPN TO GET GOING ACRS FCST AREA ATTM.  PCPN STRUGGLING A BIT
IN ITS NORTHWARD PROGRESSION WITH DRIER COLDER BNDRY LYR IN PLACE
ACRS FCST AREA.  FAR SOUTHERN COUNTIES IN NRN KY STARTING TO SEE
PCPN ATTM...WITH FZRA/PL REPORTS ACRS I-64 CORRIDOR FROM KSDF TO
KLEX. JUST RECEIVED REPORT OF -SN OUT OF GALLATIN CO. CURRENT RADAR
TRENDS INDCG DRY SLOT WORKING IN ACRS WESTERN KY WITH STRONG MID LVL
DEFORMATION DRIVING PCPN ACRS CNTRL KY.  CURRENT RUC AND 12Z ETA
MODEL SOUNDINGS AT CVG INDCG COLDER AIR BETTER ENTRENCHED AND FOR A
LONGER PERIOD OF TIME INTO THE AFTN.  12Z KILN SOUNDING SUPPORTING
THIS AS WELL...WITH TEMPS NEAR FRZ LVL AROUND 4-6KFT.  THIS WOULD
SUGGEST THAT PCPN WILL FALL AS -SN WITH A MIX OF PL AS AFTN
PROGRESSES.  THE ABV FRZ AIR DEEPENS AND LOWERS TO NEAR 3KFT BY
22Z...WITH FZRA EXPECTED TO MIX IN BY LATE AFTN/SUNSET ALONG OHIO
RIVER. BOTH ETA/RUC PICKING UP MID LVL DEFORMATION AND ASSOCD STRONG
FRONTOGENESIS AXIS PARKING ITSELF ACRS/JUST NORTH OF OHIO RIVER BY
21Z.  THUS...HEAVIEST PCPN LKLY TO FALL ALONG THIS AXIS...SHIFTING
ACRS NRN KY COUNTIES SHORTLY AFTER NOON....AND INTO CVG/PMH AREAS BY
18-19Z.

FURTHER NORTH -SN EXPECTED TO REMAIN PREDOMINANT WX TYPE UNTIL
AROUND MIDNIGHT. ACRS WEST CNTRL OH...MAY NOT SEE ANY MIXING WITH PL
UNTIL CLOSER TO DAYBREAK MON.  WILL BE SLOWING UP PCPN ONSET...WITH
SN EXPECTED TO BEGIN IN MIAMI VLY AROUND 18Z...IN CNTRL OH AND WEST
CNTRL OH BTWN 18-20Z.  THIS WILL CUT DOWN ON INITIAL SNOWFALL
AMTS...BUT WITH SN EXPECTED FOR LONGER PERIOD TONIGHT...FEEL 3-7
INCHES LKLY TO STILL BE REALIZED.  SEE WSWILN FOR MORE DETAILED
INFO.

ANOTHER CONCERN TO THINK ABOUT ONCE SN GETS GOING...GUSTY EAST
WINDS 15-20 MPH WILL CONTINUE FOR REST OF AFTN AS SFC GRADIENT
TIGHTENS WITH SFC LO APPCHG FROM SW.  AS SN FALLS...AND WITH 2-3
INCHES ON GROUND NORTH OF I-70 FROM FRI CLIPPER...COULD BE SOME
ISSUES WITH BLOWING SNOW LATER IN AFTN.  WILL ADDRESS AND MONITOR
THIS INTO AFTN AND EVNG.

IN NUTSHELL...WILL UPDATE TO FRESHEN WORDING AND TIMING ON PCPN.
MAY NEED TO LOWER FCST TEMPS...BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR NEXT
FEW HOURS.  WINDS LOOK OK.

&&
.ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IN...WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT
      INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080.
KY...WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT KYZ089>100.
OH...WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT
      OHZ026-034-035-042>046-051>056-060>065 070>074-077>082-088.

&&

RYAN

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

12 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Carroll

When: January 25, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Carroll forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.668, -85.124 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Gallatin

When: January 25, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Gallatin forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.757, -84.859 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Grant

When: January 25, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Grant forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.649, -84.625 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Owen

When: January 25, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Owen forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.520, -84.828 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Pendleton

When: January 25, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Pendleton forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.696, -84.360 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Boone

When: January 25, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Boone forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.970, -84.728 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Campbell

When: January 25, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Campbell forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.947, -84.380 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kenton

When: January 25, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Kenton forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.934, -84.533 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Robertson

When: January 25, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Robertson forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.519, -84.052 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Bracken

When: January 25, 4:30 PM EST
Where: Bracken forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.689, -84.090 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Mason

When: January 25, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Mason forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.595, -83.824 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Lewis

When: January 25, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Lewis forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.532, -83.378 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kentucky in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, January 2004

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5380612, 5380613, 5380614, 5380618, 5380619, 5380609, 5380611, 5380615, 5380620, 5380610, 5380617, 5380616.