Live updates: Arctic Kentucky temperatures will stick around through holiday weekend

An arctic front brought severe cold across Kentucky Friday, leading Gov. Andy Beshear to declare a state of emergency and causing public officials to advise against any travel.

Virtually the entire state was under a wind chill warning Friday morning, with portions of northern Kentucky under a winter storm warning, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of central and Western Kentucky will see highs of just 3 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday, according to the NWS in Louisville. Temperatures aren’t expected to climb above freezing again until Tuesday.

Farther west in Kentucky, temperatures may get above freezing by Monday, according to the NWS in Paducah.

Here’s the latest information to know about the inclement weather.

Frigid temperatures, challenging travel conditions to persist through weekend

5:15 p.m. - Freezing temperatures will remain in Central Kentucky through the holiday weekend and a little more snow is potentially on the way.

Snow squalls and blowing snow could deliver up to another inch locally through Saturday, Chris Bailey, WKYT’s Chief Meteorologist said Friday afternoon.

Temperatures will be slightly higher Saturday but still frigid with highs reaching 13 degrees, forecasts from the National Weather Service in Louisville showed.

“Bitterly cold temperatures will continue into Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day as arctic air keeps a firm grasp on the region,” the NWS forecast discussion said Friday afternoon.

Roads around Lexington will continue to be slick in spots as a result of the extreme cold, a press release Friday evening from the city said. Crews have been working around the clock to clear and treat roads.

“Residents and visitors are advised to stay off the roads,” the release said. “If you must drive, use extreme caution.”

From 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, the Lexington Police Department responded to 103 traffic-related calls. There were 53 collisions, eight of which involved injuries but none had any significant injuries.

Crashes shut down traffic on multiple highways, interstates

1:45 p.m. - Following several crashes on interstates and highways in Kentucky, multiple major roads have been blocked off. They include:

• I-64 in Scott County at mile marker 69, closed in both directions due to multiple crashes.

• I-64 eastbound in Franklin County at mile marker 58, left lanes closed in both directions due to crash.

• I-65 northbound in Warren County at mile marker 40, blocked due to jackknifed tractor trailer.

• I-71 northbound in Gallatin County at mile marker 62, lanes closed. I-71 southbound is open but traffic is moving slowly.

• Julian Carroll Purchase Parkway southbound in Graves County near mile marker 18, partial closure. One lane is open due commercial trucks skidding off roadway.

“Stay inside and stay off the roads to stay safe,” Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday. “The best way to help is not to add another car to the backups. Stay away from I-71 entirely. It is unsafe due to backups and how long you could be stranded.”

Latest on power outages

1:00 p.m. - About 17,500 Kentucky customers were without power Friday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. That was an improvement compared to the morning, when more than 20,000 were without power. Woodford County had reduced its power outages to 911 by the afternoon. There were previously more than 4,000 outages in the county.

Beshear: Third death confirmed due to weather

11:20 a.m. - Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday morning that a third death had occurred due to the weather. He previously said one person was killed in an accident and one person wihtout housing died as well.

Timelapse: Watch extreme winter weather bring freezing temperatures, snow to Lexington

How cold did it get in Lexington?

11 a.m. - Over the course of six hours, Thursday night into Friday morning, temperatures plummeted nearly 40 degrees in Central Kentucky. Temperatures dropped from 40 degrees to 2 degrees at Blue Grass Airport in a matter of hours.

Preliminary snowfall: Lexington gets 1.5 inches

10:30 a.m. - A preliminary report from the NWS in Louisville showed that Lexington got an estimated 1.5 inches of snow Thursday night into Friday morning. Several areas of Kentucky saw more snowfall, including Oldham Spencer and Shelby counties, which saw more than 4.5 inches of snow in some areas.

Travel still ‘strongly discouraged’ by state police, I-64 blocked off

9:45 a.m. - Kentucky State Police say that while the snow has stopped, roads are still not safe to drive on. Police had to close I-64 at the 69 mile marker in Scott County after multiple collisions Friday morning.

“Travel is strongly discouraged,” state police said in a tweet. “Please stay home and avoid going out on the roads.”

Thousands without power in Woodford County

9:00 a.m. - More than 20,000 Kentucky customers were without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us, a service that tracks outages across the country. That included 4,665 outages in Woodford County, which appeared to be the county with the most outages in the state as of 9 a.m. Friday.

Serious crashes reported, including 1 fatal accident

8:30 a.m. - Gov. Andy Beshear said in a tweet Friday morning that one person has died as the result of a crash amid hazardous winter weather in Kentucky. Beshear also said that state first responders were working a major accident on I-71. Beshear said the highway was closed going north beginning at exit 62, which is in the area of Glencoe.

State police said multiple vehicles had run off the road in that area.

Beshear also told reporters during a press conference Friday that one person without a house died in Louisville due to the weather.

Packed snow over ice makes roads dangerous

8 a.m. - District 7 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says its crews worked overnight to treat and plow roads in Central Kentucky. The crews were still working as of 8 a.m. Friday.

“Packed snow is over a layer of ice on roads,” the transportation cabinet said in a tweet.

The transportation cabinet also said blowing and drifting snow in some areas will reduce visibility for drivers and temperatures are still dangerously low.

Overnight traffic collisions in Lexington

7:30 a.m. - The Lexington Police Department responded to 56 traffic-related calls overnight with no major injury accidents, according to the city. As of 6 a.m., the city had reported one injury collision, 10 non-injury collisions, 16 motorist assists and 29 traffic hazards.

“A wind chill warning and winter storm advisory remain in effect until 1 p.m. today,” the city said in a news release Friday. “Plan on slippery road conditions. Patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.”

Wind chills hit -30 in some parts of Kentucky

7:15 a.m. - Fort Knox, Louisville’s Bowman Field and Henderson each had reported wind chills of -30 degrees or lower Friday morning, according to the NWS.

More than a dozen other locations in Kentucky reported wind chill temperatures of -20 degrees or lower.

Lexington crews are treating roads

6:00 a.m. - Emergency road crews began reporting for duty at 8 p.m. Thursday to treat roads in Lexington. A new crew shift will start at 8 a.m., the city said in a news release.

“Residents and visitors are advised to stay off the roads,” the city said in a statement. “If you must drive, use extreme caution.”

The city will treat roads in accordance with the roads’ priority rankings, which are based on traffic volume with consideration to residents’ access to public transportation and more.

“Rank 1” streets are main roads in and out of the city like Main Street, Harrodsburg Road and Newtown Pike. “Rank 2” streets are roads that connect Rank 1 streets and provide access to large commercial areas, like Rosemont Garden and Bryan Avenue. “Rank 3” streets are main collector routes that connect residential areas to larger roads, like Zandale Drive, Appian Way and Buck Lane.

“Rank 4” streets are local collector streets within subdivisions, which allow residents access to main roads.