LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s been colder than many may ever remember after an arctic blast brought subzero wind chills to Louisville and much of the Commonwealth.
Kentuckians will definitely remember this cold snap for a long time, especially those who have only lived in the commonwealth for a few years. For many, it’s the coldest they’ve ever seen the commonwealth get.
The brutal cold made for poor driving conditions Friday, limiting the effectiveness of road salt. Finding dividing lines was a guessing game near downtown Friday, and side streets were completely covered.
The best Mike Sullivan could do was clear the ice off his car windshield.
“This is cold for Louisville. It’s unexpected,” Sullivan said on Friday.
There’s only a few other times this lifelong resident remembers weather this cold.
“In ‘89 we had 15 inches of snow and it got as low as 35-37 degrees below at night with wind chills, very similar to this,” Sullivan recalls.
Bardstown Road was perhaps one of the busiest streets in Louisville on Friday afternoon. Some businesses were closed for the day, while others remained open or had a late start. Keith’s Hardware kept regular hours Thursday and Friday.
“We’re there to have the ice melt and the snow shovels and stuff, it’s kind of a ‘hardware store thing’ so if you’re the one providing those things you have to be open to provide those things to people,” Emily Martin said. “Thankfully, a lot of us live really close, so we can just walk in.”
Monty Hussein volunteered to lay down salt outside of Shiraz on Bardstown while his wife prepped for lunch. “This has definitely been the coldest that I’ve ever seen,” Hussein said.
We found Tom Brown warming up his car on Eastern Parkway Friday morning, this while an LG&E crew worked on power lines on Brown’s block. Brown says some of his neighbors lost power Thursday night and credits utility crews for getting them back on the grid as quickly as possible.
“Those guys are working. They are amazing. It’s cold out here and those guys are getting power on to everybody,” Brown said. “We had a line fall off. The power was out for a few people down the way and they just put it up.”