Good Wednesday evening everyone. Things continue to progress nicely toward a significant blast of wintry weather later Thursday into Friday as an arctic front slams through the state. This will cause all kinds of travel issues from west to east during the afternoon and evening hours.
Kudos to the NWS offices in Jackson, Louisville and Paducah for getting a Winter Weather Advisory up a running a day ahead. Here’s a look at the counties included…
Folks across northern and northeastern Kentucky have no reason to fret… you should be included in an advisory before all is said and done. The NWS offices in Wilmington, Ohio and Charleston, WV. are napping.
This is a high travel impact system moving in over the next few days. Here are some updated thoughts…
– The arctic front sweeps in from west to east Thursday. This boundary will clear the state around sundown.
– Temps will spike into the 40s to near 50 ahead of the front and drop some 20-30 degrees in just a few hours once the front passes. Most areas will be in the upper teens and low 20s by late Thursday evening.
– A band of snow will be right behind the front and this band will bring moderate to heavy bursts at times. Travel conditions will quickly go downhill as the flakes start flying.
– Widespread snow showers and squalls will then carry us through Thursday night into Friday.
– Let’s blanket the entire state with a general 1″-3″ of snowfall during this time. Locally higher amounts are more than possible for areas getting in on the bursts of heavier snows.
– Winds will be a big time player as gusts range from 30-40mph Thursday evening into early Friday. This will create blowing snow and white out conditions at times. Wind chills may go below zero.
– A clipper will arrive late Saturday into early Sunday and should have a swath of accumulating snow setting up. I will fine tune that setup as we get closer.
I want to stress, this is going to have a major impact on travel conditions across the entire region late Thursday through Friday. It’s not a major snowfall, but the impact is going to cause a lot of issues.
Be honest… how many of you are doing a snow dance right now? I’m looking at you, teachers. 😉
More updates as needed and I will use twitter to send out some quick thoughts on things. Have a great evening and take care.
Garrard Co. Middle School looking for a snow day. Chris, my wife is already doing a snow dance with our dogs. they love to dance.
would that be ms.judy?
Thanks Chris! Now the waiting game. BOWEL MOVEMENT sucks! He says less than an inch. We’ll see soon enough. Take care and stay warm this weekend everyone.
Ok…first weatherdude cage match of the year – who’s right on this one? “The Voice of Reason”…or “Legend Bailey”?
i think i am the one that started giving him the nickname bowel movement, i just really want that credit :p
Sorry Tommy you can’t have it that cred belongs to me;)
I’m sorry Andy, but you can’t take credit either. I was the first, someone said something about BM and another asked what BM meant and I said I work in the medical field and I always knew BM to mean Bowel Movement and that’s how it got started. But you did reply on the same thread saying you liked it. I even checked archived files to be absolutely sure.
No matter who coined the phrase, its brilliant 🙂
WKYT calling for 1-2″ for central KY with 35-40 mph gusts. WLEX calling for a “fraction of an inch” for central KY, with maybe an inch in isolated spots, 20-30 mph winds. Voice of Reason really downplaying things tonight. Will be interesting to see how they fare.
This update makes this teacher more excited than a kid on Christmas!
AMEN! Snow Dancing as I type 🙂
You know you can really tell a big change in the weather is coming just by how the kids are acting. 🙂
Amen!
This teacher is most definitely got the dancing shoes on!
Goodness…..the dancing has destroyed my grammar….*HAS got the dancing shoes on.
All that dancing made your fingers skip around on the keyboard. You’re supposed to take a break from the computer while your dancing 😉
Sounds like you are dancing enough for all of us!
Spelling…hinka Lunka snow dance….back in the 70’s this was sung by a character on wlw in Cincinnati …. Dancing I m not bout teachers, but I just want to see white on the ground
No snow. I’d rather get out in May than June!!
May sounds better than June. Gotta agree with you, however one or snow days is ok.
I’d rather go to daughters graduation in May as well instead of June
When do the next models come out?
looks look my baby pic…
I hope not to read the blame game again for any accidents that are bound to happen. Can’t blame the NWS office this time.
Still think road crews will have a hard time initially. Reduced visibilities could be the main culprit as well that causes accidents. Drivers beware….
Im doing my best not to fret that Lawrence Co isn’t in the winter weather advisory yet…lol I’ve been working on my snow dance because this teacher wants a SNOW DAY!!!! 🙂
I truly love to hear NO SCHOOL IN WHITLEY COUNTY !!!!!!! We do get more excited than the kids….We are all keeping up with your forecast. Thanks Chris for your detailed weather reports. Now until school is officially called off here everyone will be texting each other with the BIG question: Think will have school and what’s it doing at your house ????? We have so much faith in you that we are already planning our four day weekend ( we are already off on Monday). What is real bad is when we get all excited like this and then it misses us, you talking about some sad and unhappy faces the next day at school !!!!
Everyone have a great evening and be careful on the roads.
I couldn’t agree more… I’m planning my four day weekend as well!!
Me too…. I read the forecast to my students sometimes during the last period of the day just before it is supposed to hit and tell them to wear their pjs inside out and do a snow dance. Haha
I totally agree with you…. we, the teachers get more excited than the kids!!!!!! I have my sign up on my board that has a snowman on it and he is saying,”Please snow, I am a teacher!” Chris is always on top of the weather for us and I have his site on my desk top for easy access. LOL. I teach in Perry County and we are already planning our weekend too. I sure hope it doesn’t miss us. This time last year we already had almost 16 inches of snow. I am ready for the big ones. Bring on the snow, but let us keep our power. Have a great hopefully long weekend.
I’m doing my snowdance in Versailles!!! Bring it on!!! 🙂
Imma go out on da limB and pridik we gets a Good 2 to 3 ft off of this 1.I caN tell by da way dat the trees ben movin back n forth dat its gunna be bigga den pridikted.
Chris, ya caught me dancing here in Rowan Conty! 🙂 Just waiting…hope everyone stays safe…whooo hooo!!! It’s Chilli on the wood stove time. (finally!)
Chris – I am a teacher in Southeastern Kentucky and I have you weather blog open all day long waiting for updates. My students poke fun at me for being such a weather nerd! WE WANT SNOW! 🙂
I’m a teacher in Estill Co. so I’ve told my students to wear their pjs inside out, put ice cubes in the toilet, and put a spoon under their pillow. Brings a snow day every time! Worked last week for us =) A colleague taught me that! Come on snow!!!
This would be the perfectly timed snow day – a 3 day weekend becomes a FOUR day weekend. I’m trying not to get too excited, but the kids have been a bit crazy this week – a full moon and now the chance of snow…I’m gonna need a snow day Friday just to survive!
Amen! 🙂
Doing the snow dance Chris Bailey! A four day weekend is sounding great at this point!!!
No school Monday so a snow day on Friday would give us a nice long weekend! the kiddos have been wild the last 2 days! let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!!!!!!
This teacher is dancing, recruiting the kids for extra measure!
Snow dance time! I would love a snow day.
So nice to have at least something to follow! anyone laying odds where the heavier bands might set up with this system? I’m guessing that will have to be determined with nowcasting. That aspect will make this system much more exciting as we all sit back and hope to land in the bullseye of a heavy band!
Oh, come on teachers…don’t act like you’re lesson planning and not doing one awesome snow day right about now!! Looking forward to possibly seeing a ton of school closings for central kentucky come Friday morning. It will look so pretty sitting there on the bottom of the screen.
Teachers all across the state could use a snow day Friday to make an already long MLKJ holiday weekend even LONGER!!
BOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*dance….meant to put dance instead of day. See how excited I am?!?!?!
I get so excited sometimes that I can’t even go back to sleep in the morning after I hear the No School announcement. What is torture is when the snow is supposed to move in sometime during the night….. so I end up getting up and down all throught the night to look out the window to see what it is doing. I try my best not to get up but I can’t stand the suspense I have to look !!!!!
Me, too! Not so bad, if we get the day off…but those days that we still have to work, I’m kicking myself. We really are worse than the students!
Well, I think a lot of folks are going to be happy tomorrow and a lot are going to be disappointed. It all depends on what you expect to see with your eyes Friday morning. The “Voice of Reason” is saying “a fraction of an inch” according to one person who posted above me? Well, if he’s talking about what is actually visible on the ground in most places Friday morning, he’s probably correct. Chris is saying 1-3″? Well, if he’s talking about what actually falls from the sky, he’s probably spot-on. It’s all a matter of details. The important thing to remember here is that it does not take 3″ of accumulation on the ground to shut down interstates. We saw that a little over a week ago. Cars and trucks were rolling over statewide every 5 minutes.
At least most people will be warned this time! Nobody believed me last time. I guess I’m on the fence this year. I want snow but now my son and husband has to drive to work in it.
I can’t see much of an accumulation either. With the warm temps and wet ground I don’t think there will be much to see. At least it’ll be pretty falling from the sky!
Will get an accumulation temps are going to plummet very very quickly, by this time tomorrow night mid 20’s wind chills lower teens. With numerous snow showers. This is an artic cold front not a Pacific front.
This teacher is dancing. Would love to wake up to a winter wonderland and have a good cup of coffee, snuggle by the fire, and look out the window to a blanket of snow!!! 🙂
Oh yes, this Louisville teacher is doing a snow dance! :o). Mostly glad to see that winter is finally arriving!
I am not a teacher, but I would be doing a snow dance right,just because I love snow, but I have a broken foot so I will just tap my toes. Does that count?
This teacher’s been snow dancing since the middle of December. 😉
Had heavy thunderstorms move through the Keavy area around 5 this evening. Hail covered the ground and the winds were strong. Was surprised at the lightening and thunder that was involved in this storm. Funny how one day we have flooding storms with strong winds and hail to snow the next day. Only in AMERICA!! LOL Bring on the SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would love to see some snow! Kids in Shelby County are already out for Friday, maybe they will have a little snow to play in.
Here in Indy the NWS is forecasting 2-4″. I don’t really have to drive
until Friday evening so I hope/figure roads will be good by then.
I’m going to be so happy and content in my own little snow globe world! Thanks Chris for the detailed breakdown of what is ahead!!!
You’ve been talking about this one LONG before the other weather guys, Chris. I’ve been showing your blog to my seniors at school, and we’ve all been excited. This teacher has been doing the snow dance to Whitesnake for days now (this always works)…just to make sure your predictions came true 😉
Worried about Rolo…No post in a while. Hope he is not in jail. 🙂
You ok ol’ buddy?
Im SO doing a snow dance right now!!!! BRING IT! 🙂
Thanks, Chris. I am not a teacher, but I am still doing a snow dance. teachers arenot the only ones whowould like to see a good snow around here! 😉 As for the weekend clipper, I am anticipating hearing more on that one in a day or so. Thanks for everything you do.
By the way teachers, I kind of envy you guys when you get a snow day, as those of us who work other jobs have to report anyway. (BTW, I worked for the school system for 12 years.) Every profession has its perks. Doing the snow dance with you! 😀
It is so much fun to listen to the buzz at school about the possible snow day on Friday. I have been telling my fellow teacher in Lincoln County for days about the potential. They all kept saying,”I haven’t heard anything about snow.” I was pleased to introduce them all to this blog. Thanks Chris. Keep up the good work!
My mom’s a middle school teacher in Woodford Co., and she is chompin’ at the bit for a snow day!! She’s been praying for a snow day since August, lol. I am a warm weather person myself, but I’ll put on my blue suede shoes and cut a rug if this weather system gets me a day off from EKU or even a 2 hour delay Friday! 😀
3 inches would be nice but I’m don’t know if that factors in the warm ground that will take a while to freeze.
It’ll be pretty just seeing it fall from the sky!! BTW I went to Kroger after work!!
what?!? No 1st call for SNOW maps & less than 24 hrs away from the event….I don’t blame you on this one, Chris. The amounts could be 2″ different from county to county. Here’s to hoping most of us get in on the heavy snow bursts a couple times if not several ! =-)
I believe what Chris is thinking 1to3 inches statewide.
As a teacher – it’s not so much the time out as the “excitement”.
As a science teacher – as far as the wildness – we say ” pigs and kids forecast” – comments?
I don’t know about the pigs, but at school we always know if something is up with the weather changing. The kids are always wild and they have been this week!
ABSOLUTELY! I teach middle school and watch kids after school. There is a strong anecdotal correlation to ‘big weather’ and odd behavior. Today, for example, tells me we WILL get snow.
This music teacher is doing a Snow Dance! It’s the only way I’ll get a three day weekend…school is closed Monday but I have a meeting:(
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Snow, snow, snow!!! 🙂
Meanwhile, enjoying the rain and the cleansing it brings in Lexington…Have a warm evening, everyone.
HelenBukulmez.com
For the first time I can’t do the snow dance. My granddaughters school has awards day on Friday. 🙁
Last year the snow cancelled awards day and they didn’t set a new one so she is going to be pretty upset.
Did anyone see the map that WLEX had up for snow? SE KY was marked with 4 to 10 inches of snow (they had feet…lol)…Chris first call for snow? : )
Was it on the tele or the website
Bold statement of the year here, but CKY 2-4″, last 2 tiers in the mountains in SE KY 3-5″. I hope my boldness pays off.
I’ll go along with that bold statement I think north central KY might see that 2-4 inch range especially along the river.
Predicting by my students, it is so going to be a good snow…..there will be some serious changes for sure!! I LOVE my students, and I LOVE my time with them. However, there is just something magical about a snow day…makes you feel like a kid again!
You got that right. Me and the two kids were doing the snow dance when we opened the web page up and saw all of the blue and we were in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work. You are awesome. Teachers love your site. I am a teacher, and you are on my computer desk top for easy access. LOL. Thanks for all your hard work in letting us know asap.
Ha ha ha Chris calls ’em out and look at all the teachers posting tonight. Hilarious.
This teacher has been snow dancing for such a long time that I have developed 6 pack abs!
I’ve been doing a snow dance for days…. well since the first post about this snow 🙂 I asked my students to do a snow dance as well… I love the anticipation! Keep up the good work CB! You are the best met around!
Hazardous driving will be the significant impact of this wintry affair. Little accumulation but factor in winds and swift temperature drops will cause headaches. As for sledding?…..go north my friends. North.
Glad that people are learning who to trust when it comes to weather. The big question at school is, “What does Chris say?” Come on, teachers, let’s dance! A long weekend would be wonderful!!!
OK, I don’t want to make any teachers mad! You guys sound more like the kids, you get lots of days OFF in the summer, do you want to teach or not?? You guys get many more days off then us common folk?
Teachers work a contracted amount of days. A snow day is not a paid day, but will be made up at another time. Lighten up. Teachers get caught up in the buzz that their students create over snow days. Plus it’s good in the winter to have some days off since there is a lot of sickness and the snow days help to cut down on everyone’s exposure to germs. Not to mention since teachers usually take a lot of work home it’s cool to have some time in the school year to take a deep breath and relax a little.
I’m a teacher! For me, at least, the whole ‘summer off’ is giant frustrating myth. Its the one dream I had when I ‘joined up’, which has NEVER come true. I work 12-14 hrs per day and some weekends depending on the teams I coach (academic and athletic). So, bring on the snow day!!!!! YES!
I totally agree-we do sooo many extra’s that extend looooong hours, (STLP, AcademicTeam, tutoring) ,it just slays me when I hear ‘ we get 3 months off….’ I’m lucky if I get a month off between training and professionnel dev. and extended time…it is not like teaching used to be….just saying…still love snow days, almost better than some summer days! )
Teachers are contracted by the number of days, so they just have to work those contracted days later. Come on Todd Scrooge, Chris is the one who gave a shout out to teachers to respond.
O.K….schools–uuuuuuurrrr; if you are not a teacher/service person/aid, you have no idea what it takes to get your job done-leave it….walk the walk…love the kids–we do every day!
(but we still love snow dayS-the child in us that keeps us up with our students!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-
Okay, I’ll bite on this one… I had a “regular” 40 hour a week job, year round. Then I went back to college and got an education degree and taught for a few years. That did me in… back to the 40 hour a week jobs; that was so much easier! I totally understand these teachers needing a day off and looking forward to it!
Until you have 120 or more kids of any day depending on you to teach them and take care of all their drama, don’t judge us! Many of our holidays and summer days are spent in meetings. There are also many pressures like test score, parent issues, troubled children, paperwork, and lesson planning that are added to the pressure of just having so many people pulling us in all directions. It’s not as easy as you may think!
Don’t forget heavy snowfall rates can overcome any ground temp. This should snap the lack of snow records.
So Mitch, do you have any thoughts for your fellow Woodford Countians?
around an inch if you’re lucky two. Expect a changeover around 4pm with the heaviest snow around dinnertime! Also around an inch Saturday night as well.
Snow totals looking even better now
The Weather Channel is talking about a snowstorm!!! Wow. I can’t wait to see what we are going to get. I hope for at least 2-4 here in Lewis Co. Ky. And I agree with the teachers they need a break. Let it snow. Chris you are great at what you do keep up the good work. I miss the snow.
I have to laugh at the “the teachers need a break” comment because seriously though… schools have only been back in for a week 😛
Not that I blame them though, truth is it makes me a bit bitter because I’m a preschool teacher who has to work regardless of how much snow we get. It could snow 5 inches and our centers will still be open, even if only 2 children show up.
I’ll take that though… 2 kids is a good break 😛
I’m sorry to hear that I wish you could get a breat as well. Let’s just hope with whatever we get the kids will enjoy it.
so true! Last year when it snowed every other day we would always fill up buckets of snow and bring them in to our sensory tables so the kids could play… but really it was so we teachers could play! 🙂 I love nothing more than seeing kids getting to have a good time and go sledding. I’m still hoping for that one really BIG snow that shuts everything down. I think they’d have to give us a day off for something like that!
Well here’s hoping for a big old school snowstorm so you can get a break. And I know watching the kids faces light up seeing the snow is the most priceless thing ever.
Love Chris’s new tweet about the new GFS!
Doing a happy dance!! 😀
….and *crickets* from the naysayers. ROTFL!
Thanks Chris!
wilmington holding off all advisories for nky and western ohio for now, this is puzzling to me :/
Puzzling but not surprising Wilmington office is notorious for being a last minute call. Im sure the local TV mets up there if they have any common sense will pay the NWS office out of Wilmington no attention.
yea this isnt the first time…its going to look strange when ft wayne and cleveland and losuivlle all have the maps blued up and then a random gap of nothing here in the miami valley
Most of the Boyle County teachers are dancing – in fact, we’ve been dancing for days! What an extremely wimpy winter so far.
You have heard, however, that Danville was blessed with some serious gorgeous rainbows this afternoon, haven’t you? I just hope someone puts one in the local paper – Kirk Schlea had a great one above the Danville-Boyle County Public Library.
The NWS office out of Louisville there now going with snow and blowing snow. No real updated forecast discussion region wide which makes me believe the NWS folks are now taking a good hard look at the new model runs. I can promise there really getting uncomfortable with these new model runs while CB is laughing shaking his head saying I told you guys. Model runs are now consistently coming in with more snow and now it seems for a longer duration. CB is dead on if he up’s his snow totals.
this is what the jones lady at wave 3 was hinting at.. while fox41 seem to lower their forcast..
Marc Weinberg at fox 41 lowered is forecast barely, his reasoning for that is he believes better lifting will be a tad further south. I have the most respect for Marc but Im going to disagree with him I agree with the best lifting being a little futher south but in my opinion that’s perfect for north central and central Ky.
Will this be a wet or dry snow???Please answer someone who knows more about snow than i do THanks
Will be wet at first it should start off as rain or even a mix and then rapidly change to snow, however after a short time the temps will tank quickly and be a dry snow so the snow ratio’s will be higher especially late afternoon through the overnight hours into mid-day Friday..
Hi everyone! I’ve been reading the blog the past two years but I’ve never posted until now. I want to say, I enjoy the blog and I think you do a great job Chris!! The time has come to where I now have a teenager that has just started driving and according to her she’s become a professional driver overnight lol. I would like to know what your thoughts are about the arrival time for Winchester. She has been driving to school but I’m thinking that I may need to just take her if there is any chance of the snow hitting before school lets out. Any thoughts would definately be appreciated.
My 16 year old professional driver wil not drive in the snow even though he thinks he can. I don’t think the roads will be bad when school gets out tomorrow but I would check things in the morning to be sure. Good luck.
I sometimes think that RLX Charleston forgets about us over here lol
Woohoo! Snow!! =) I know there are several teachers in this school building, including myself, doing the snow dance today! Our kids have been absolutely wild this week! Pay day + a snow day + 4 day weekend = one happy me! =) Keep up the good work Chris!