Good afternoon, folks. Dreary and chilly weather continues across central and eastern Kentucky as the west gets a break. As better weather settles in for most in the coming days, another big storm system is going to develop and target the region later this week. That’s a storm that will impact millions of people across the eastern part of the country to begin the long Christmas weekend.

Let’s begin with the low clouds, fog and drizzle hanging around. This action is pretty much keeping the central and east locked in on some ugly. Temps are chilly in these areas, too. The NAM is keeping the dreary and chilly weather around over the next few days, while the GFS clears us out with seasonal temps. Come on GFS! 🙂

I have no changes on the late week storm system. This thing is going to be massive an impact about every state east of the Mississippi River. What kind of an impact it has on the weather where you live remains to be seen as we figure out how strong this gets and how much cold air it can wrap in from the northwest.

The GFS has a lot of rain and wind starting Thursday with rain changing to wraparound snows on Friday…

The ICON Model has a similar solution, but has a better period of wraparound snows than the GFS…

The new version of the GFS isn’t quite as strong and is a bit farther east, but still has some nice wraparound snows in the east…

The European Model covers a ton of real estate with this storm, but doesn’t have quite the cold air push behind the storm as the GFS models show…

The Canadian Model continues to be the jumpiest and weakest of the models and having a tough time pulling in colder air…

Some thoughts on this setup:

  • Time of impact is Thursday through early Saturday
  • Rain and wind are likely with this system, especially Thursday and early Friday
  • Heavy rainfall of 1″-2″  with locally higher amounts show up. Local high water issues possible
  • Wraparound snows are very POSSIBLE with such a big storm system, but that’s not a given. It all depends on how much cold air can dive in behind this storm.

What happens with that storm will impact what happens behind it for Christmas weekend into Christmas week. The Canadian Model has a nice little snow maker rolling in Christmas Eve and Day…

The GFS has a weaker version of that…

The European Model has been terribly inconsistent with the Christmas Weekend/Christmas Eve and Day look. Last night’s run at cold overwhelming the Ohio Valley. The new run has a weak system zipping through on Sunday…

Once again, there’s no shortage of action in the run up to Christmas and the holiday season. Will these systems be more Grinch than Bing Crosby? Time will tell.

Make it a good one and take care.