Good Wednesday, everyone. We have some nasty winter weather rolling our way in the coming days and this is likely the beginning of a harsh period. Arctic cold, dangerous wind chills and increasing snow chances highlight the pattern I’m talking about.

The first front arrives this evening into tonight. Out ahead of it, temps will spike into the 40s with a mix of sun and clouds with winds picking up. Those winds will really increase overnight into Thursday as much colder air swings in. Readings drop into the upper teens and low 20s with single digit wind chills early Thursday.

Snow showers and snow squalls will be common across central and eastern Kentucky and those could cause some travel issues.

NAMWith gusty winds, any snow that’s out there will be blowing around.

Temps by Friday morning will range from the high single digits to the low teens. Wind chills may dip into the negative range for a time.

The next arctic front slams in here on Valentines Day and the GFS is now much more enthusiastic with widespread snows…

GFS

With such cold air, things could be pretty darn snowy across the entire region. Gusty winds would again blow around whatever snow does fall. Temps crash all day long on Saturday with wind chills going below zero from late Saturday into Sunday.

Actual low temps may flirt with zero…

Canadian 2

Those numbers are from the Canadian Model and I’m showing them because that model has performed very well with prior cold blasts.

This leads us into early next week and into the timeframe I’ve been highlighting for a possible winter storm developing from the Midwest into the Ohio Valley. The models continue to point in that direction, but will change a bit from run to run. The most important thing to look at from this far out is that the models are still showing some kind of winter storm.

GFS

GFS Snow

Canadian

Canadian

Once again, the impact, if any, on our weather is a long way from being known. That said, the pattern does look ripe for some kind of winter storm to develop early next week. That would then be followed by additional shots of arctic cold.

This is a wicked looking pattern shaping up for much of the country over the next 2-3 weeks.

I will have updates later today. Take care.