Good afternoon, everyone. I wanted to drop by for a quick update on the absolutely frigid pattern ahead of us. It’s truly historic to see this kind of a setup in the month of May.
The first shot of chill is taking control right now and will continue to keep our temps well below normal over the next few days. By Thursday morning, temps reach the low and mid 30s across central and eastern Kentucky and that likely brings a frost threat.
I’ve talked about how this pattern is straight out of winter and it actually has a chance to produce some winter weather. Low pressure works from west to east to our south on Friday. As that happens, very cold air is being drawn in behind the low.
From time to time, we’ve seen the medium range models hinting at the potential for some flake action. Now, we are seeing that in the shorter term. Check out the wet snow showing up on the GFS…
The NAM only goes through Friday evening, but it’s also showing some wet snow getting in there…
That’s absolutely incredible to see forecast models showing snow at this time of year and so close to an event. Again, the chance for snow falling where you live is naturally very low, but it’s not a zero chance.
With our without flakes, historic cold is possible by Saturday morning. The models continue to spit out the coldest May temps on record for many areas…
The amount of damage that would cause could be catastrophic.
The GFS then sends another shot of 20s in here by next Tuesday morning…
I will have the latest on WKYT-TV starting at 4pm. Make it a good one and take care.
Thanks Chris, One shot of Arctic air is unbelievable in May, but two shots within a week is well you know is not going to be good for the Agricultural economy. Hope it gets cloudy to keep the low temperatures in the forties then we warm up and get dry. That scenario would be great. Snow in May is just not right for the Ohio Valley region, but maybe in the mountain areas.
I only recall seeing May snow once in my 65 years. It was in May 1976 or 1975. I left work around 1:30 a.m. and noticed what appeared to be bugs around the street lights…then noticed it was snow! Enough snow fell overnight to leave a coating on the cars in Portsmouth, Ohio on the Ohio River.
Yes. It was 1976…I remember it well. Froze everybody’s tobacco plants in the beds – worst May for tobacco growers that I remember…
That hard freeze for this weekend is going to kill a lot of plants and ornamental trees.
And my gardens. #nocold
This is going to be really hard on the vegetation. We had the hottest and driest September on record last fall, and now this potential freeze.
Looking back through the records, there has only been one time in Lexington history where there were 32 degree or lower temps in the same May. That was in 1947, where it hit exactly 32 on May 8, 9, and 10.
Hey Chris, What were the dates of the 80 degree mark that you’ve mentioned previously? (latest date not reached in Lexington). Even though not terribly reliable, the 10 day forecasts for Lexington show no 80 degree temps – I was just curious on the date to beat.
Thank you, sir.