Ice Storm

The weather hasn't been kind to Louisville the last few months. We had the awful windstorm from Hurricane Ike that destroyed trees and power lines and now we have this amazing ice storm hit us. Conditions here are nowhere near as bad as far western Kentucky where they had nothing but freezing rain for an entire night and day. We had a little freezing rain followed by several inches of snow followed by freezing rain leaving around 3/4 of an inch of ice coating everything while in west KY they had around double that much ice (hard to fathom the weight of it). Trees are snapped, bent, and broken, power, phone, and cable lines fell under their own weight as well as falling limbs, and many streets and most sidewalks are solid ice. Today we are getting a big thaw with the temperatures in the sun approaching 60 degrees but I just wonder how much will be left tonight to re-freeze for tomorrow.

I took a LOT of pictures because it's been absolutely beautiful despite the tragedy of it. Below are a few select pictures.












For more pictures you can check my Flickr page where you will find these sets:
1-27-09
1-28-09
1-29-09
1-30-09
1-31-09

Ike Really Tore Up Louisville

[A quick note: I was in Nashville from Monday through Friday evening
so I'm only just now able to make this post]

DSC_2145, originally uploaded by Alan Evil.

Sunday September the 14th the worst weather event in Louisville, Kentucky's recorded history blew through town. For over two hours we experienced sustained winds of 50mph with gusts over 75mph. Trees were literally ripped from the ground, splintered from their bases, and generally tossed around like toothpicks. The path of the storm was fairly wide and it appears it ran right up the Ohio River. I went out in the morning and took pictures of the approaching front, thinking we were going to get some rain and thunderstorms. Boy was I in for a surprise. Not only did we get almost no rain (just a few drops), the sun was shining and the skies were half blue with clouds racing overhead as trees were bent double, first one way and then another (explaining why so many broke). It was truly amazing.

You will find a collection of pictures I took after the storm here. Unfortunately, some streets still look like this a week later. Though we got electricity back about 12 hours after it went out, most houses and businesses around us are still dark. LG&E, our local utility, has been saying it may be another week before all power is restored.