Good afternoon, gang. It was an absolutely frigid morning across the bluegrass state. Lows dropped into the single digits across the northern half of the state and generally low teens elsewhere. Here’s a look at the low temps from the Kentucky Mesonet…
From here, it’s still game on for a wicked wild weekend of weather across our region. Arctic cold gives way to increasing clouds and a rise in temps late Friday. As precip moves in, we have to watch for a wintry mix before going to rain.
That rain continues into Saturday with some thunderstorms possible. Winds will be very gusty and could reach 40mph at times through early Sunday. Temps also spike into the 60-65 degree range Saturday.
The arctic cold quickly moves in and drops temps 30-40 degrees in a matter of hours. That sets the stage for a mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow early Sunday. The models are in pretty good agreement with this scenario…
NAM
GFS Parallel
Canadian
That deep snow pack to our northwest will do a number on temps Sunday night into Monday morning…
I will see you guys for another update later today. Make it a good one and take care.
Job one finished. Had check in to the KWC. Hope the cold air is quicker than what the models are showing. Heck I really hope this Low travels 200 miles further south and keeps us in the cold for the duration. Now that is some wishful thinking. Thanks for the update.
History shows us these lows do often shift, however, 95% of the time they shift north. Unfortunate for we snow lovers.
BG isn’t receiving the sunshine we were supposed to get today! Very overcast with some areas of thicker clouds
I was very happy to have experienced the 3 big winter storms over the last 2 Winters. That being said, I am a snow lover and always have been. Which is why I follow the best blog around. Living where I do, I don’t expect big storms every year. I look forward to the 3, 4 or 5 inch events just as much. Couple things that are depressing about our neck of the woods are the big warmups after cold waves that lead to rain, like the one coming this weekend. Also the northwest/backside flurries that never lead to more than a nuisance dusting at most.
What are we looking at as far as accumulation goes?
For rain? 😉
Nobody that i know of has mentioned how much of any type most likely nobody knows.
We should be out of the drought completely by next week’s new drought monitor update in our neck of the woods…now only in the moderate range for SE KY…with the potential for a 1 to 2 inch + rain this weekend. I am already over 3 inches for the month here in the Harlan area!
Figured I would discuss rain since everyone’s winter storm mood is growing more bleak by the updates.
If I had to choose which forecast models to use, the Euro at 6-7 days out and the NAM at 24-36 hours out are a couple of suggestions. The RAP model for up to 18 hrs out is also pretty good. In other words, at 2-5 days out, the ‘waffles’ are served in abundance. I say watch the NAM’s runs tomorrow for best idea on backside precipitation types.
To quote Joe Bastardi concerning Christmas weekend, “The polar vortex will give way to the subtropical ridge, and that will destroy the fridge.”
That verifies what I read on Accuweather about another mild Christmas. I didn’t want to be the first to bear the bad news for White Christmas lovers.
I knew when Chris wasn’t talking about Christmas week we was in for bad news there because been with Chris long enough to know he be throwing us some hints if it was going to be a white or cold Christmas
I wish these maps would show the temps for my area in Greenup and Boyd Co. And we are always the last ones to have advisories posted even when everyone around us is under advisory.
It also appears that Sunday’s brief arctic air will not penetrate very far SE as SE KY will only reach mid 20s by Monday morning…just average down my way with 40 for Monday high…only suppose to hit 15 tonight here in Harlan but the dew points are very low in single digits below zero currently so we shall see!
Just like “old” times. Most of precip falls as rain. After two winters of big snow results, nice to get back to our new “old” school. 😉 🙂
Sadly our new old school usually includes ice. Second half of winter- watch out!