I started this blog during the fall of 2006, and I looked back at some of my posts from that winter when I was lamenting the lack of snow that year. According to Jim Eastern Ky had 12 inches of snow that year, but I’m not sure if we even had that much.
We moved to Pure Water Hollow spring of 1993 right after a 24 inch March snow! So I guess of that 36 inches during 92-93 winter we got 2 feet all at once at the end of the season! Our first official winter here was the 93-94 winter, with the 2nd place snowfall amount that will be beaten this current season!
The most memorable part of that 94 winter for us was the extremely cold temperatures. The historical data for record low temperatures show 1994 as a doozy. 4 days in January of 94 hold the record cold for each individual day. January 15th was 7 below zero, Jan 16th was 6 below zero, Jan 19th was 26 below zero, and Jan 20th was 19 below zero! I’m sure many other days was zero and below, but they didn’t break any records. There we were in a 1930s era coal camp house, with blown glass windows that were very loose in their frames (cutains would actually move by the wind with the windows closed), inadequate insulation, inadequate heat, frozen water pipes for weeks, and a 2 year old and a 4 month old baby to care for! Those were some challenging days!
I found this interesting note from the Kentucky Climate Center website. My homestead was not the only one affected in Kentucky that winter:
"As 1930 is to heat waves, 1994 is now to frigid spells. In January, a blizzard coated the landscape with about an inch of ice and topped it with 6-26 inches of snow. Mason County had the heaviest snow accumulation. All state, interstate, and federal highways were closed for two days. Behind the blizzard came the intrusion of arctic air. This one brought frigid weather to all of Kentucky. The morning of 19 January 1994 saw -31°F at Grayson, -32°F at Somerset, -33°F at Cynthiana, a record breaking -35°F at Gray Hawk, and a record smashing -37°F at Shelbyville. One hopes that this record will last a long time."
This historical data was also posted there which I found facinating. I love to imagine myself back in Daniel Boone’s time, but I’m sure I would not have lasted long. Especially considering this kind of winter:
"Cold spells may have been more memorable than hot ones to early settlers who were less well prepared than modern Kentuckians. Historians record the winter of 1779-1780 as the coldest known to that date. Although records of temperatures aren’t available for that winter, the severity is indicated at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where snow continued on the ground from mid November to mid February. For ten days in December 1796, history records that the Ohio River was frozen over to a thickness of nine inches."
I wonder what things looked like here, where Pure Water Hollow Homestead would one day be located? I guess only the animals knew, because I doubt if the Indians would have come over here in weather like that if they didn’t have to!
Anyway, I guess I have rambled on enough. I’ve always thought that Winter is a pretty interesting time here in eastern Kentucky, but I suppose this post will probably be a bore to many who read it.
I wonder what the reamainder of this current winter will turn out to be? Could we really be in line to get another 14 inches of snow and beat the 1995/96 record? If we do, I will probably record something about it right here!
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