Good evening, folks. We are setting the stage for another very cold night across the bluegrass state. Readings will drop deep into the teens in many areas, but the arctic cold is about to end a 3 week run across our region. Replacing it will be a Christmas weekend storm I am naming “The Grinch”.
That system will bring a blizzard from the Rockies to the upper Midwest Christmas weekend. A blizzard there is bad news for those wanting a white Christmas around here.
As that storm comes together in the Rockies on Christmas Eve day, a big slug of chilly rain looks to develop and move into Kentucky…
That could bring some heavy downpours as Santa gets ready to hydroplane into town.
From there, the Rockies storm develops into a monster and heads toward the western Great Lakes. That will drag a cold front our way, with a line of showers and some thunder…
High winds will also be a possibility later Christmas into Monday.
Temperatures during this time will absolutely take off. Highs later Christmas into Monday can reach the 60s on that strong southwesterly wind. As the winds shift to the northwest behind the front, the cold crashes back in on Tuesday…
The setup over the next few weeks is one that will keep very cold air filtering into the plains and west, while the east and south turn toasty. That could put out region in a very active and wet setup…
Does that mean it can’t snow around here? No, but temps are going to skew milder for a while.
I will have another update later tonight. Enjoy the evening and take care.
Thanks Chris. Could you talk to Mother Nature and ask her to at least let it be a bit cooler on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Since snow (even flurries) is out of the picture at least it could be a bit colder…. anyway, we will still enjoy our families, and the warmth of the season, no matter what the weather is! Have s good evening everyone.
That last map looks great to me. Since we’re not gonna get snow, I much prefer it warm than cold. 50-60 degree rain is far better than 33 degree rain any day of the week.
Well, guess I’ll check back on the blog in a month then lol.
This. Looks like folks to the north, east and west will get the snow for the next month. No ice none the less is a win 🙂
I know a LOT of people in my line of work that are up in the north, east and west areas and they are already tired of the snow. It gets really old after a few hits. That is unless you do not have to drive or remove any of the stuff.
I will take no snow over too much. For folks that want to get smacked over and over- good for you, but also good that it ain’t happening (no offense). A few snows big enough for kids to make snowmen would be nice, none the less 🙂
Yea, no ice! A rare exception I have seen is when the roads are just wet and only about a millimeter of ice is on the trees. It’s actually very picturesque when the sun is shining through the icy limbs, yet the ice is not too heavy to drop limbs onto power lines.
As a warm wx person, I don’t mind scarce snowfall in January, but on the other hand we don’t really want a severe wx January neither such as back in January 2012 (or especially January 1890…yes 1890). Thankfully, relatively few Kentucky twisters have happened in January and of those only two F4s (now EF4)…. one being January 1890 at Hickman KY and the other near the Land Between the Lakes area in the 1920s(?).
Even though Nashville got eight inches snow in last year’s big storm, it’s still not like places much farther north where you might many big snows over a very long cold winter. I was so amazed as a kid when the March 1993 blizzard hit but since then my fondness for snow has kind of….. melted away 😉 .
Kids have grown and moved off since the early days of the blog when we all used to look forward to a good pounding. How rare they were but so sweet when they happened, minus the shoveling
It is a week out, things can change. It did in 2004, forecast was for 60’s and rain and we ended up with 18 inches of snow sleet snow. Gotta be positive. LOL…..I hope my duck shoes come in this week. Thanks for the update CB.
I not going to complain.
Extreme cold without snow is awful.
Maybe there might be an upside with the new forecast map, because it might allow our old friend Mr. Clipper to invade this geographical area.
“December to remember” becomes “Mud Thud!” Goodnight John Boy!
Sooooo….. what are you saying it’s not going to snow??? You mean to tell me that the GFS model from 2 weeks ago was lieing to me about double digit snowfall for Christmas and New Years?? Unbelievable!!!
The GFS model can go kick rocks!!!
A fellow weather geek friend of mine once said that GFS stands for Generally Fulla S**t!!
A.K.A. as the Joseph Goebbels forecasting service.
Hope weather is ok first 12 days of 2017 along the southern united stetes, no severe outbreaks
Since Winter popped a little early this year, maybe the “January thaw” that typically shows up during the middle of that month, is accelerated and could bode well for some snow mid-January…
Well, I can dream, can’t I!!
Horrible looking pattern in the long term..Maybe by mid Jan. the pattern can reload..No blocking in site..Raging +AO with +NAO..
The pattern is loaded, but we are to the south of it. Irony.
Agree with the other posters. If it’s not going to snow it can be 60 degrees every day, we will take it!
If there isn’t going to be snow near Christmas, it might as well be warm enough to get outside. Maybe even a bike ride long walk?
Thanks, Chris. After the last couple winters, I’m all in favor of 2016 ending- and 2017 starting with a blowtorch.
No offense to the snow lovers as I use to be one myself, but I thank God that it’s going to warm up for a while. When I was a kid, I loved the snow, but now that I’m 27 years old and have to drive in it on steep hills with no four wheel drive, I hate it. I can’t wait until spring gets here.
I love the grinch… but not this kind. ❄⛄