Snowy side roads, plenty of cars in ditches overnight

Most state highways and county roads are snow and ice covered since last night, with not much prospect of a quick melt from sunshine or salt in the bitter conditions today or Saturday.

Interstates have more stretches of clear pavement, but be wary of sudden icy patches or snow-covered roadway. Gusty winds today will continue to blow snow and cause some drifting onto roads.

Sustained winds will cause driving difficulty on the larger bridges over open expanses of water at the lakes and major rivers, especially for semis and high profile vehicles.

Visibility has greatly improved since yesterday afternoon when heavier snow bands combined with blowing snow. KYTC reported that plows in Fulton County were taken off the road for about an hour as a safety precaution when whiteout conditions caused visibility to be less than 100 yards on highways.

KY 286 in Ballard County was blocked for a time by a stuck semi, and dozens of other cars found their way into ditches.

The Cave-in-Rock and Dorena-Hickman ferries both closed because of the wind and poor conditions. The Cave-in-Rock ferry tried to reopen this morning, but has closed again as of 8 a.m. 

In spite of the threat of ice forming in the rapid fall of temperatures to below zero, the US 45 Brookport bridge did not have to close yesterday.