Good evening, gang. It’s a cold and dreary Sunday across the bluegrass state, but it’s all eyes on a busy week ahead. I wanted to stop by for a very quick update on how things stand going into the week ahead.

Another big rain maker is on the way late Monday into Tuesday. This will likely dump 1″ or more of rain across many areas. The Hi Res NAM is targeting the central and east with the highest totals, and has a few spots approaching 2″ in the south…

nam

That’s just awesome to see and will continue the trend of putting to bed a short term fall drought across our region.

After that, here comes the arctic front. The models continue to be split on a wave developing along the boundary. The pattern certainly favors a weak system, and the European continues to show that…

euro

If that wave is real, a band of light snow would be noted behind the front across our region. That would likely happen Wednesday night into early Thursday.

A strong northwesterly flow of arctic air will then settle in here, likely bringing some snow showers and flurries through Friday…

euro-2

That’s some real deal cold air and gusty winds. The model output numbers are already cold, and in situations like this, they grow colder the closer you get. Highs in the 20s with lows deep into the teens will be noted. Wind chill numbers will be even colder.

We are in the 4-7 day window of where models start to flip and flop on a potential system next weekend. This seems to be a definitive trend in all models, then they suddenly find the original solution within 4 days or so. I still maintain next weekend system is likely to not be a big storm that amplifies across our region. The pattern favors a system rolling due east with some winter weather along it.

Once that swings through, western Canada has the next arctic blast lined up ready to dive southeast. Here’s the European at day 10…

euro-3

For fun, the GFS temperatures once that blast arrives a day or so later…

gfs-temps

That’s a very cold look and one supported by the analog years and the Ensembles. Speaking of the Ensembles, here’s a look at the next two weeks worth of snow from the 21 members that make up the GFS Ensembles…

gfs-snow

While you can’t get true specifics from that, you can certainly see how all of them are forecasting a lot of winter weather across the Ohio Valley, with several showing snow into the deep south.

So much for this being a “quick” update… I just can’t help myself. 🙂

I’ll see you back here later tonight for another update. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and take care.