Happy New Year, Lawrence County! It’s cold and mild outside tonight, but the New Year holiday marks two very memorable weather anniversaries in Lawrence County history which were anything but mild. On New Year’s Day 1947, Lawrence County was struck by a massive ice storm.

Although electricity at that time was mostly limited to those who lived in or near town, the electrical lines snapped under the weight of the ice, much as they did in the 1994 ice storm.

During the 1947 storm, the old water tank north of the square in Lawrenceburg went completely dry, depriving the city of running water. As roads iced over, some motorists were stranded in their cars overnight.

The ice storm created an especially dire situation at the Lawrence County Hospital, where the nurses successfully cared for 20 patients and several newborn babies without any heat, water, or electricity. Miraculously, despite the extreme conditions, the county escaped the 1947 ice storm with no reported casualties. Damages were estimated at around $25,000 (with inflation, that would be damages to the tune of around a quarter-million dollars today).

Seventeen years later, Lawrence County endured similarly frigid conditions on New Year’s Day. On January 1, 1964, Lawrence County rang in the new year with a new single-day snowfall record, one which still stands to this day. A major winter storm dumped 16 inches of snow on our area, with some drifts, according to Joe Baxter, the official county weather observer, reaching a depth of nearly 3 feet.

Although the heavy snowfall shuttered many businesses for the duration of the week, and many New Year’s Eve party-goers were forced to spend the night at the homes of their hosts, Lawrence County once again braved the storm with no reported injuries or fatalities.

Lawrenceburg resident Ellen Kerr was a senior in high school during the 1947 storm. She recalls that the city was littered with the shattered branches of trees, so much so that the streets were full of limbs and ice, and no one could move about with any ease at all until it began to thaw. Have you heard any stories of the 1947 ice storm? Do you remember the 1964 blizzard? Let us know in a comment, and everyone please have a safe, happy, and prosperous new year!

The Lawrence County Courthouse during the 1947 Ice Storm.