Extreme Cold Moves Into Louisville Area; JCPS, Other Schools Closed Tuesday

Update 3:51 p.m.: JCPS Will Stay Closed, TooJefferson County Public Schools will remain closed on Tuesday because of the extremely cold weather.Wind chills are forecast to be in the -19 to -23 degrees range between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Mike Paddock, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Louisville.Winds are expected to ease up in the mid-morning Tuesday—the high temperature is expected to be about 13 degrees, Paddock said.On Wednesday, the temperature is forecast to reach a more normal range in the 30s, the National Weather Service said.Update 2:36 p.m.: While We're at ItNelson County schools are closed Tuesday, too. Spencer County schools are closed Tuesday, but staff are supposed to show up for training.I'm told JCPS is expected to make a decision Monday about whether to have classes Tuesday. No word yet from Jefferson County's Catholic Schools, also.Update 2:20 p.m.: More School Closings for TuesdayOldham County Schools andGreater Clark County Schoolswill be closed on Tuesday.New Albany-Floyd County Schools will be closedTuesday, too. And Clarksville Community and The temperature overnight into Tuesday is forecast to be a steady -2 degrees—with wild chills in the -15 to -25 range, the National Weather Service said. The high temperature for Tuesday is forecast to be 12 degrees.Louisville and the surrounding area are under a Wind Chill Warning until 1 p.m. Tuesday. Update 9:55 a.m.: Bullitt County Public Schools Closes for TuesdayBullitt County schools officials have gone ahead and announced that schoolswill also be closed Tuesday. No word from other school districts. We'll let you know here once we hear something.Update 9 a.m.: A Few Power Outages, Roads Still OKA combination of road crews treating streets on time and the wind have led to dry streets in most of the Louisville area, MetroSafe/EMA spokeswoman Jody Duncan said this morning.But officials are still cautioning—it's very, very cold outside and people should take precautions if they're heading outdoors.At about 8 a.m., the temperature in Louisville was 0 degrees and the wind chill was 18- degrees, the National Weather Service said.Duncan notes that frostbite can set in in about 30 minutes in these conditions; people should bring in pets; if you're driving, make sure you have proper supplies in case you get stuck. Here are more tips in our story on Sunday about the cold snap.As of 9 a.m., about 280 LG&E customers were without service—mostly in the Jeffersontown area and South Louisville. LG&E said they have crews out addressing the outages. No outages are being reported in Clark, Floyd or Harrison counties in Southern Indiana, according to Duke Energy.Update 6:42 a.m.:   Highway Moving OKHere's word from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: "All counties are reporting wet to dry pavement conditions with the exception of Trimble County. KYTC crews were able to treat area roadways last night before temperatures fell into the lower 20s. The gusty winds have helped to dry the pavement some."Surface roads appear to mostly dry and in OK shape in Louisville, according to MetroSafe spokeswoman. City snow crews finished salting city streets at 3 a.m.Earlier: Many schools districts in the Louisville area are closed Monday and officials are urging residents to be prepared for extreme cold.Temperatures in the Louisville area are expected to remain in the single-digits—and fall below zero—throughout Monday, the National Weather Service said. The high temperature on Tuesday is forecast to be 12 degrees.Here's Sunday'scoverage of the weather situation. Officials are urging caution: City and weather officials encourage anyone with pets to bring them inside before the temperature begins dropping more quickly. Residents are also encouraged to check on their neighbors, and exercise caution using other sources for heat in the event of a power outage. The Louisville Water Company has encouraged residents to run a small stream of water to prevent pipes from freezing.A white flag alert has been issued for Louisville homeless shelters.As of 6 a.m. Monday, the temperature in Louisville was 4 degrees—with a wind chill of 16- degrees, the National Weather Service said.It's also expected to be windy, leading wind chill values to reach 20- or 30- degrees, the weather service said. "Temperatures this cold will pose danger of frost bite and hypothermia or death if precautions are not taken," the weather service said. "Also exposed water pipes may freeze and could burst."Here are health tipsfor weather this cold.Snow expected overnight didn't appear to be as much as anticipated (if any), but officials are warning motorists to be cautious of icy roads. Interstates traffic is moving smoothly at 6 a.m., according to Trimarc. Highways in the area (at least on the Kentucky side) appear to be mostly wet or dry, except in Trimble County, where it actually did snow, a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokeswoman said.Here are the closed schools:

• Jefferson County Public Schools
• Jefferson County Catholic schools
• Greater Clark County Schools
• New Albany-Floyd County Schools
• Bullitt County Public Schools
• Oldham County Schools
• Clarksville Community Schools
• Nelson County Schools
• Shelby County Schools
• University of Louisville
• Indiana University Southeast
• Ivy Tech Sellersburg

As of last notice, Jefferson Community & Technical College will open at 10 a.m. (But it notes that may change.)