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Thinking of visiting during the winter time. I come from Maryland and people here SUCK at winter driving, as does the city with dealing with it. How is Lexington when it comes to snow?
Honestly, depends on the winter. Some are mild, with only a few inches at a time that melts relatively quickly. Roads turn to slush and dry up, and it's pretty easy... then there's winters like '09, where a Noreaster dips low and Lexington gets a foot or so of snow in one storm. Then there's winters like last year, where it's just damn cold. Other winters, like '07 (IIRC), Lexington gets ice storms. These are bad, in terms of driving... everyone typically stays home, as roads are pretty impassable (solid ice a few inches thick with light snow on top. Unless you've got spiked tires, you're sliding).
Honestly, depends on the winter. Some are mild, with only a few inches at a time that melts relatively quickly. Roads turn to slush and dry up, and it's pretty easy... then there's winters like '09, where a Noreaster dips low and Lexington gets a foot or so of snow in one storm. Then there's winters like last year, where it's just damn cold. Other winters, like '07 (IIRC), Lexington gets ice storms. These are bad, in terms of driving... everyone typically stays home, as roads are pretty impassable (solid ice a few inches thick with light snow on top. Unless you've got spiked tires, you're sliding).
They're on par. I'd trust KY drivers over, say, Tennessee or Arkansas... but they're bad when compared to Canadians, for example. Roads usually stay pretty clear, so there really isn't much "winter driving". When there is snow and ice on the ground, the majority will slow down and be cautious (snow tires aren't common here, most people run all seasons). You will find that 1 in 100 who thinks they can still do 70mph and ends up backwards in the median, but that's a definite minority.
Lexington has almost a "mixing" of all the cultures surrounding it. You get people from the mountains, who know how to handle bad roads, as well as people from the mid west and Ohio who know what they're doing, but you also get true southerners who don't know how to drive in the white stuff.
If you drive safe and keep to yourself, you'll generally do fine, but you'll probably see somebody messing up badly -- but the same can be said for places like upstate New York or Colorado.
I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, and spent most of my life there and Northern and Central Minnesota - and I am very impressed with the winter driving skills of the average Kentucky driver. We don't tend to get just snowstorms down here - the 32-degree line of every major storm system always seems to pass over Central Kentucky at some point in the process, so you get rain, freezing rain, sleet, slush, and finally snow falling on top of now-icy roads. Every storm seems to be a sloppy, slippery, half-frozen mess - the kind of storm we only see once or twice a year in Wisconsin, but Kentucky drivers (by and large) seem to just take them in stride.
So yeah - it snows, and it slops, and traffic snarls, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well your fellow drivers conduct themselves in those conditions. As a general rule.
I lived in Baltimore in the 1980's. (My husband is from Baltimore) and his big complaint is just that he wishes we would get more snow (he loves the stuff!) Like it was stated some people can drive on snow here, some can't (they just panic!)
but overall, it goes pretty smoothly.
Albert, great explanation! Lexington winters are definitely more icy than other parts of the country. They don't get the massive snow accumulation, so it can be a bit deceiving. You'll see about 2" on the roads, but nearly an inch of that is solid ice, and the rest is a dusting on top. They're pretty good at salting and plowing the main roads but it takes a few days to reach smaller neighbourhood streets after bad storms.
I never had any winter driving issues in all my time living there. Saw a few people spin off on New Circle Rd, and a few people slide to a stop at lights, but that's about it. My mom had a bad spin on Man-o-War at Nicholasville when I was younger, but it was one of those "nobody should be on the roads" nights.
If it's a light snow it's ok, but they have no clue how to deal with more than six inches. Just so you understand, they cancel school the day before snow is expected, even just a couple inches, because they don't have the equipment to clear the city.
I grew up in CT and 20+ years in KY it still amazed me how unprepared they seemed.
However, KY gets far more ice storms than snowfall in a season. That's a real killer.
Just so you understand, they cancel school the day before snow is expected, even just a couple inches, because they don't have the equipment to clear the city.
They actually DO have the equipment to clear / salt the city. They've been doing the "close school if there's a chance of school" thing ever since about 2008. Used to you'd have to wait until morning to listen / watch for school closures. While I was in High School, there were a couple bad winters, where it should have been called off but they decided not to.
One moment in particular, they were expecting blizzard conditions to hit right around the time school got released. They were given the option to release us early, and get home before the storm, or hold us late, after the trucks plowed... FCPS decided to release us right on time, in the middle of the storm. Everything covered in ice and about 6-8" of snow. There were about 12 wrecks in the Dunbar parking lot alone. Busses could hardly get in, as well as parents.
They got so much flack from that, they decided to just cancel school whenever there was a chance of winter weather. My senior year got pushed a month into Summer, and that includes all the weather make up days built into the schedule!
It's led to some interesting "snow days", where the weather took a last second turn, and we were out of school on a 65 degree day for snow.
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They're pretty good at salting and plowing the main roads but it takes a few days to reach smaller neighbourhood streets after bad storms.
