I like snow...How much snow do you get? (Lexington: college, move to)

[THEZMAN]

I would like to know what the winters are like. Do you get snow every year? Does it last or melt right away? Do you ever get a White Christmas?

[kingping]

not alot - I think the avg is 16 inches a year

[Kamsack]

Here is a map of normal yearly snowfall basically from about 12 inches in the far southwest to around 20 inches in the east. As usual....each year can vary so use the averages with caution.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lmk/n...Y_snowfall.png

I grew up in western Kentucky and followed the weather closely especially the winter weather as I loved snow. In my part of the state (Madisonville) it snows each winter and enough to stay on the ground for a few days...but snow on the ground for more than a week at a time is pretty rare. It usually warms up enough into 40s for highs to melt the snow a day or two after a snowfall. A few winters though do feature enough cold air for snow to linger longer. The most fustration fact for me was the type of precipitation in the winter...snow ice or rain. Usually we got all three. Many a times it may start as snow then go to ice then to rain as warmer air moves in ahead of a low. Ice storms are not uncommon in the state.

The north central part of the state -- Louisville to Lexington to Cincy and also the applachian part of the state do receive more frequent snows and are colder. Annual averages in this area are closer to 20 inches. In the far south central and southwest from Fulton to Hopkinsville to Bowling Green snowfall is the least and rain in the winter more common.

So in other words....I you love love winter and snow Kentucky isnt exactly your place but if you like it when it falls but you want it to melt soon then most areas fit that bill. I love winter and snow too much and thus was desiring to move to a more northern state upon college graduation.

I must add....at least in my location White Christmases were rare.... wet ones and in the 40s were very common.

[InLondon]

We get quite a few little snows every winter, meaning 2 inches or less. It may stick around on the ground for a day or 2 and that's about it. There is the occasional big snow (over 4 inches) that doesn't happen every winter, some winters we get a big one 2 or 3 times.

It almost always rains a lot too during the winter, with lots of cloudy cold days. But there's nothing like spring time in Kentucky. It's so beautiful when spring arrives!

[THEZMAN]

Thanks for this info, folks!

[Hey_Hey]

You can pretty much bet on a half dozen snows that will amount to a dusting to a couple inches. The majority of winters will also have a snow or two that will be in the 3-5 inch range. Every other year there will be a six inch snow. Every 5 years or so you'll get 8+ inches and every 5-10 years you'll get one that will give you a foot.

[SoEdible]

Originally Posted by Hey_Hey

You can pretty much bet on a half dozen snows that will amount to a dusting to a couple inches. The majority of winters will also have a snow or two that will be in the 3-5 inch range. Every other year there will be a six inch snow. Every 5 years or so you'll get 8+ inches and every 5-10 years you'll get one that will give you a foot.

THIS! ^

Heh, yea, they are all correct. When I was little, we used to have a lot more heavy snow days in the winter.

[phonelady61]

This is the winter of 2008-2009 when lexington had the ice storm and trees were breaking all over the place .

[johnsonkk]

To answer every forum's question, and this will work for every state...

Here it is.

HowStuffWorks "Maps of United States Annual Snowfall"

You can zoom in on any state or city to see what the average snowfall amount it. It's Adobe flash so can't post the photo/link directly.