A strong cold front passed through east Kentucky on Christmas Eve. Widespread rain accompanied the cold front through early afternoon.
Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS JKL wrote it up.
A strong cold front passed through east Kentucky on Christmas Eve. Widespread rain accompanied the cold front through early afternoon. However, as the cold air spread into east Kentucky, it interacted with increasing moisture from a weather disturbance aloft, to provide a changeover to snow that occurred between 2 pm and 8 pm. A short period of sleet was also observed during the changeover time. Snow became very heavy at times with snowfall rates between 1 and 2 inches per hour observed. The snow continued into the evening hours, before the widespread snow pulled out of the area. However, snow showers persisted from Christmas Eve Night through Christmas day, before finally winding down. As temperatures plummeted into the teens and 20s during the evening on Christmas Eve, icy conditions quickly developed areawide. These icy conditions continued through Christmas.
The most notable impact was related to travel across east Kentucky. The heavy snow created treacherous road conditions across east Kentucky. The Hal Rogers Parkway was shut down between London and Manchester for a short time. There were also numerous reports of cars off the road and significant backups due to poor weather conditions. In addition, there were many reports of trees knocked down due to the heavy snow along with thousands of power outages.
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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 24, 1:31 PM EST, 29 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
24 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Reports of between 5 and 7 inches of snow fell across the county. The Co-op observer in Oneida reported a 5.8 inch storm total at 10:20 am EST on 12/25.
A 4 inch report was made in the Annville community at 8:28 pm EST on 12/24, accumulating since 2 pm EST. Elsewhere across the county saw below warning amounts of between 2 and 4 inches.
Snowfall of 8.5 inches was reported 1 south of the community of Trosper at 11:50 pm EST on 12/24.
Emergency Management reported 4.5 inches of snow in London at 1:50 am EST on 12/25, falling in less than a 12 hour time period.
A report was made of around 5 inches on a ridge top 1 west of the community of Monica at 5:50 pm EST on 12/24. Meanwhile, to the west of this location, much lesser amounts under 3 inches were reported through the morning of 12/25.
Dispatch reported 7 inches of snow in Frenchburg by 11:47 am EST on 12/25.
Snowfall was measured at 5 inches between 2 pm and time of report at 8:22 pm EST on 12/24 just outside of the community of Lucky Fork (1 SW).
Totals of up to 7 inches were reported by 12 pm on December 25th in the community of Hilda. The community of Gates (1 N of Gates) received 6.5 inches as of 7 am on the 25th as well. Meanwhile the Army Corps of Engineers only received 3.5 inches of snowfall as of 7 am at Cave Run Lake.
Up to 7.1 inches of snow fell in the community of Daysboro between 2 pm and around 9 pm on the 24th.
Dispatch reported that 4.5 inches of snow fell as of noon on 12/25 in Williamsburg...but that the majority (around 4 inches) fell between 1pm and 10pm on the 24th.
Nearly 10 inches of snow fell across portions of the county. The highest report was a 9.8 inch storm total in Beverly at 6 pm EST 12/25.
Between 8 and 9 inches fell across much of the county. The NWS reported a 9 inch storm total at 1pm EST on 12/25.
An 8 inch storm total was reported in Sandy Hook at 9 am EST on 12/25.
A Co-op observer reported 7.5 inches of snowfall as of 8am on 12/25.
The community of Thousandsticks received 8.8 inches of storm total snowfall between 2pm EST on 12/24 and the time of report at 9:41 am EST on 12/25.
Two reports of around 7 inches were received from the public in the communities of Salyersville and Royalton at 9:49 and 10:36 pm EST, respectively, on 12/24. This was the storm total since 2 pm according to the Salyersville report.
A report was made of 9.2 inches by a member of the public 2 miles ENE of the community of Florress around 9:00 pm EST on 12/24, followed by a measured report of 7.0 inches passed along by broadcast media in West Liberty at 10:23 pm EST.
Multiple reports were made from across the county ranging from 6 to 8 inches from late Christmas Eve through Christmas morning. Of the highest reports, 8 inches in Bulan at 10:22pm EST on 12/24, and two 7.5 inch reports came in near Hazard and the community of Jeff at 6:50 am EST on 12/25.
Measurements between 5 and 8 inches were made on the evening of 12/24, with snow continuing to fall into 12/25.
A report of 6 inches of storm total snowfall was made in the Hagerhill community at 8:29 am EST on 12/25.
Multiple reports of between 6 and 8 inches were made by observers and Cocorahs on the morning of 12/25. However, the highest report was made by a member of the public on the evening of 12/24, with 8.5 inches of snowfall having accumulated in the Defeated Creek community.
The 7 am EST observation on 12/25 for 2 East of Inez was 5.9 inches of snowfall.
Snowfall amounts ranged throughout the county from just a couple inches up to 5 inches. Highest amounts included a report of 5 inches at both the community of Whitepost (1202 am EST on 12/25) and near the community of Regina (1148 pm EST on 12/24).
Received a report of 6 inches of snowfall in the community of Carrie by 8:57 pm EST on 12/24.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, December 2020
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 926335, 926339, 926342, 926343, 926345, 926606, 926609, 927688, 927695, 928765, 926333, 926334, 926336, 926338, 926346, 926353, 926607, 926610, 926337, 926340, 926349, 926363, 926611, 928798.