Just how big of a whopper is bearing down on the commonwealth? Lexington Emergency Management Director Rob Larkin put it this way.
"This storm will more than likely take its place among the top ten in Lexington history, based on what we have found going back to 1887," he announced Thursday.
To find a comparable forecast in recent memory, he said, you'd have to look to 2015, when Mother Nature dropped more than a foot of snow in some areas of Central Kentucky. Lexington set a daily snowfall record with the its fourth snowiest day of all-time.
In a press conference, Mayor Linda Gorton stressed that this particular setup isn't run-of-the-will winter weather.
"This storm is different," she said. "This storm is going to bring a lot of snow and then it will also bring very frigid temperatures, so it will more than likely be with us for a long time."
The warnings aren't meant to frighten, the mayor added, but rather to spur residents to take the threat seriously and get ahead of the storm by preparing for major disruptions.