Yes, It’s Snowed in Kentucky in May…And April’s Been Brutal, Too

It feels a little odd writing about spring snowfalls when we've barely seen any rain since the season began. That's pretty strange for late April in the Ohio Valley, especially since it's been so warm. But on the "strange" scale (if there is such a thing), where would it rank compared to snow?

Chances are, there have been many more occurrences of long dry stretches this time of year than significant snow. Of course, we're talking April, here, so maybe any snow would be significant. It certainly was in 2021.

Kentucky April Snowfall Record - 2021

The phrase "no fair" always crosses my mind when it snows in April, but what happened in 2021 elevates to a "flagrant foul." Sure, a little snow here or there, but nearly two inches? It was 1.8, to be exact, but it was likely still 1.8 too many for folks who had to deal with it. After all, it set a record for this late in the season.

Kentucky Snowstorm - April 1987

In early April of 1987, the Appalachian Mountains were blasted with up to three feet of snow across southeastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina. There were drifts in Letcher County, Kentucky, that were reportedly 10 feet deep. Power outages left more than 18,000 customers without electricity.

May Snow in Kentucky

In my lifetime, I've only ever seen snow in May one time, and that was Kentucky Derby Day, May 6th, 1989. The temperatures were in the low 40s, and the snow didn't stick, but it was snow, and it was May, and I was properly slack-jawed. More than a century earlier, on the same date in 1868, an inch of snow was recorded in Louisville. And on May 20th, 1894, the latest recorded snowfall in Kentucky's history yielded a mere trace to the record books. WLKY Meteorologist John Belski compiled the Kentucky May snow information six years ago.

In no way did I write this story in anticipation of late spring snow; I'm no expert, but I think that ship has sailed. But this is always an interesting time of the year for weather in the Ohio Valley. Might as well take a look back at some moments that got really interesting.