The National Weather Service in Louisville has warned that a winter storm forecast Sunday and Monday to drop “significant snow and ice” on a broad swath of central Kentucky and southern Indiana could leave power outages in its wake.
The weather service issued a winter storm watch set to take effect from 4 a.m. Sunday until 1 p.m. Monday, saying the anticipated wintry mix of precipitation including snow, sleet and freezing rain, will bring accumulations that could damage trees and power lines.
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Recent winter storms left thousands of Kentuckians without power including the 2009 ice storm that left 654,122 customers without power across the commonwealth less than a year after the remnants of Hurricane Ike left thousands in the dark.
The aftermath left schools and many businesses closed for a week. Crews worked for 10 days before power was restored to all customers in the Louisville area, according to the National Weather Service.
On Nov. 14, 2018, a storm that brought a mix of snow, ice and freezing rain to Kentucky for multiple days knocked down power lines and trees, causing outages for 153,000 LG&E and KU customers.
The 2009 outages were the worst suffered by LG&E and KU since the entities merged in 1998.
In the years since, the power company has upgraded its infrastructure to withstand inclement weather conditions better, helping the utility overcome such events, company spokesperson Chris Whelan said.
To prepare for the impact of the upcoming storm, he said the company has roughly 500 workers on standby.
It could be the second consecutive year weather events caused major outages. Two 2024 storms each left more than 200,000 without power.
In May 2024, a tornado outbreak wrought heavy rain, strong winds and severe damage across Kentucky, killing five people. Nearly 202,000 LG&E and KU customers were without power in the throes of the storm. Then in September, strong winds and unrelenting rain from Hurricane Helene remnants caused roughly 224,000 outages for the company.
Despite the company’s reinforcements, Whelan still urges Kentuckians to prepare for the worst by charging phones and preparing battery-powered flashlights.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LG&E and KU prepares for outages as 2025 winter storm nears