Kentucky Bend  The Kentucky Bend, variously called the New Madrid Bend, Madrid Bend, Bessie Bend, or Bubbleland, is an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, encircled by the states of Tennessee and Missouri. It is a portion of a peninsula defined by an oxbow loop meander of the Mississippi River, and its inclusion in the state of Kentucky stems from uncertainties of the course of the Mississippi River when the boundary between Tennessee and Kentucky was established. Kentucky Bend is the extreme southwestern corner of Kentucky. The peninsula is traversed by the southern line of latitude of the state of Kentucky, at the banks of the Mississippi River. The only highway into the area is Tennessee State Route 22, whose continuation into Kentucky Bend at one time was signed as Kentucky State Route 313. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18 persons in this area, tabulated as the Kentucky Bend Census County Division. The mailing address of the area is Tiptonville, Tennessee. New Madrid, Missouri is directly across the river to the north, but it is not connected to the bend by road or ferry. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Kentucky Bend covers a land area of , of which are land and , or 35.08%, are covered by water. The water area is primarily within the Mississippi River. Surveyors marking the boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee had only estimated where their line would meet the Mississippi; later, more detailed surveys revealed the location of this line to pass through north-south bends in the river, creating a division of the peninsula. The western border of Kentucky is designated as the Mississippi River, as is the eastern border of Missouri—thus the creation of a "notch" for Kentucky, but not for Tennessee. The Kentucky Bend, like the nearby Missouri Bootheel and Western Tennessee, has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") with characteristics of a humid continental climate, and experiences hot, humid summers and chilly, though not severe, winters. Winter weather can vary from very mild and wet when air masses from the Gulf of Mexico predominate, to very cold, dry, and windy with northerly or northwesterly airflows as in the famous cold month of January 1977. On average, 82 nights fall to or below , while one night falls to or below , and the coldest temperature ever was on February 2, 1951. The hottest was on July 1, 1952, while an average of 2.9 days exceed .