Good Thursday, everyone. Frost is showing up this morning across much of central and eastern Kentucky and this is the opening act for what’s ahead. A winter looking system on Friday will usher in historic cold by Saturday morning, with some areas potentially with the coldest May temps ever recorded.
Our day starts with temps in the 30s for many, but ends with readings in the low and mid 60s, which is still well below normal. A mix of sun and clouds will be noted with a small threat for a shower going up…
The Friday storm system continues to roll eastward across the lower Ohio Valley. This brings a cold rain for many areas and that rain may be heavy at times. The question is still on whether or not we can get some flakes out of this somewhere across Kentucky. The NAM is still going all in on the threat for a quick switch to wet snow late Friday…
The European Model says, not so fast! It keeps most of this in rain form, but it does have a few flakes at the tail end across the mountains in the southeast Friday evening…
This sets the stage for a hard freeze Friday night and early Saturday morning. Temps should drop deep into the 20s and could reach the coldest numbers we have ever seen in the month of May…
GFS
EURO
Temps by Sunday morning won’t be as cold, but should still give some areas a light freeze with another frost for many.
Clouds will increase Sunday with late day rain arriving…
Another frost or light freeze threat comes in behind that early next week. By the second half of the week, the pattern flips to much warmer as a ridge develops across the eastern half of the country. That looks to carry us into the following week…
A warm and stormy pattern should unfold for the second half of the month. There is also some indication the tropics come to life a little earlier than normal. That’s been a thing for several years now.
Enjoy your day and take care.
Hopefully after Tuesday the weather will return to normal.
Thanks Chris, It feels and looks like Autumn rather than Spring this morning with the current temperature of 35 degrees in my backyard. The “Arctic Door” has opened. Shortest Spring and Summer I have ever experience LOL. Seriously, we will get Summer weather with the coming ridge developing as Chris mentioned, but before that cover your plants if you can, otherwise you will have to replant.
There goes one record. Lexington tied a record low of 33 degrees this morning, last set in 1989. That year May 7 was Derby Day and there was sleet in Louisville the morning of the Derby.
It’s such a bummer there was no Derby last weekend because the weather was beautiful. In recent years it’s been rare to not have a sloppy, chilly mess for the race.
I watched the Kentucky Derby, virtual that is, but it just didn’t seem the same. Actually, I got a little sad. Things these days are just not the same. I look at last year as “the good ole days.” Good times are ahead for all of us, with the weather and life as we once knew it. Everyone take “one day at a time.”
The Chicago area is also going to challenge historic cold temps on Saturday morning! The last time Chicago experienced a temperature of 32 or below in May was 16 years ago on May 3rd, 2004, when the low was 30 degrees.
Chicago has experienced only three occasions of a hard freeze (temps of 28 degrees or below) during May since 1873, with the last time being on May 10th, 1983, when the low was 28.
The record low for Chicago on May 9th is 27 degrees (which also ties the all-time record low for the month of May), which was set in 1983. The predicted low temperature here for May 9th is around 30 degrees. Interestingly, the low temps in Central and Eastern Kentucky on Saturday morning are predicted to be colder than here in the Chicago area!
Mike, the cold Arctic Air is coming southeast out of central Canada thanks to an upper level low pressure system over Hudson Bay working with a cold Arctic High pressure system in west central Canada. Chicago on west will not receive the coldest air this time, but central and eastern Kentucky has the best chance at this time around, very unfortunate for us here in Kentucky. Like I said in the above post, I hope it doesn’t happen. Have a good and safe evening.
I sure hope it doesn’t freeze anywhere, but the forecasters for my area are calling for mid twenties for Saturday morning. If there is a dry northwest wind, with freezing temperatures, damage will happen to the beautiful trees that just leaf out about a couple of weeks ago. This has happen before but cannot remember the year it occurred. Trees will recover with warmth and humidity but gardens and row crop farms will have to replant. I pray on this “National Day of Prayer” that this potential agricultural disaster does not happen anywhere.
wake me up when mother nature gets sober. this is awful.
Big whoop. Talk to me weds. in the mid70s