Snowfall above average, but far from record

By BURTON SPEAKMAN

GLASGOW — Barren County and the surrounding area may be experiencing a once in a decade year in terms of snow and ice, but the conditions are far from a record.

Snow accumulation statistics for Glasgow were not available for Glasgow for this year, said Stuart Foster, Kentucky State climatologist located at Western Kentucky University.

But nearby in Bowling Green the average yearly snowfall is 10.4 inches and thus far in 2010 there has been 14 inches of snow, he said. The year average for Glasgow is 11.4 inches of now. The last time that Glasgow was well above its average yearly snow total was in 2003 when 18.3 inches of snow fell and then in 1996, when there was 17.6 inches of snow. This year’s accumulation figures do not include the last two snowfalls.

There was also significant snow in the area between 1984 and 1986 and from 1977 to 1979. In 1978 there were really high snow totals, Foster said.

“There were 17 inches of snow in February and another 30 inches in March,” he said. “People don’t think much about snow in March around here, but it is a time when it is possible for us to get considerable snow.”

From Jan. 8, 1978 through March 5 of that year there was a trace of snow on the ground every day, Foster said.

“Some days it was just a small amount, but others it was 1 to 2-inches, or 5 inches or more,” he said.

Although this year hasn’t been as bad it has snowed enough to remind some people of that year, Foster said.  

Randy Scott, a former teacher at Caverna High School who now serves as transportation director, was teaching in 1978 when the area was blanketed in snow and students missed several days of school. To make up the days, students attended classes on Saturdays.

“And I tell you what that was the worst fiasco,” he said.

Very few students showed up for class, Scott said.

“You couldn’t do anything because you didn’t have anybody in your classroom,” he said.

In addition to attending classes on Saturdays, an hour and 15 minutes was added to the school day, he said.

Johnny Kinslow, head of the Barren County road department, said they have had to order more salt and other road supplies this year.

“We’ve had to order a lot more. We’ve used more this year than we had in the last three years combined,” he said.

Barren County has switched salt providers because the typical source had cut off supply, Kinslow said.

A snow like the one in 1978 “would cripple Barren County,” he said.

People are to0 used to being able to get out and go whenever they want, Kinslow said.

The Kentucky Transpor-tation Cabinet are in the process of restocking salt, said Keirsten Jaggers, spokeswoman for the cabinet in Bowling Green.

The Bowling Green location, which handles state roads in Barren County, has spent $928,367 in salt and $54,843 for Calcium Chloride this year, she said. Those figures do not include the storm earlier this week.

“Each county has a salt dome ranging in capacity from 1,100 tons to 5,000 tons,” Jaggers said. “We have a 5,800 gallon storage tank in each county for the calcium chloride that is purchased from Sicalco LTD (Chicago area), with two storage tanks in Warren and Barren Counties.”

The brine used on roads is very expensive, she said. It is made on sight and stories in a 10,000-gallon tank for each of the 10 counties.

Temperatures have also been much cooler than normal for the first two months of the years. The Barren County Mesonet station in Cave City recorded average temperatures of 30.7 in January and 31.4 thus far in February, Foster said. This compares to average temperature of 36.1 degrees in January and 40.8 degrees in February in Glasgow.

“We’ve been running five to six degrees colder than normal the last two months,” he said. “We’re still in the early part of February and the end of the month can expect to have higher temperatures.”

Although the long-term forecast for the area predicts Barren County and the surrounding area will continue to experience lower than average temperatures throughout much of the month, Foster said.

Similar to snow, colder than usual weather was experienced in several years in the past including 1994. The coldest year was in 1977 when the average January temperature was 20 degrees, he said.

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