Good Thursday, everyone. A major winter storm is poised to strike the bluegrass state with significant snow and ice accumulations. This is a powerful storm that can produce enough winds to cause whiteout conditions, and blowing and drifting snows for many areas Friday into Friday night.

It’s not often you see the models locked in on this kind of setup…

GFS 2

That’s a powerful low working into the Tennessee Valley on Friday, and then giving way to a stronger low right along the east coast. You can clearly see the wind potential with this massive storm.

Assuming the above setup is correct, a wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and some rain develops from south to north tonight. This leaves the door open for a few hours of icing across parts of southern Kentucky early Friday. Check out the freezing rain forecast from the GFS…

GFS Snow 2The same model run has a heavy swath of the snow that follows that up Friday into Friday night…

GFS Snow

The NAM is also amped up with snow through Saturday…

NAM

Taken verbatim, both models indicate a shutdown snowstorm across Kentucky. Given the fact they match what the Short Range Ensembles Forecast has been indicating all along (a lot of precipitation), I made some changes on the latest call for snowfall map, though I’m not yet up to the totals seen on the above maps…

Special 2

While, I am confident of a major winter storm hitting our region, I’m not as confident with exactly where the heaviest snows fall. One thing is for certain, there is going to be a super sharp cutoff on the northern and western edge of the snow shield. Right now, that appears to set up just north and west of the Ohio River, but it may be a close call. Folks in these areas should keep that in mind.

The numbers on the snow forecast map could nudge a littler farther north or south with future updates, depending on how the latest data looks.

Regardless, this is a MAJOR winter storm ready to blast our part of the world with snow and some ice. High winds may create blowing and drifting snow.

I will have updates as needed throughout the day. Make it a great Thursday and take care.