Good Tuesday, weather weenies. It’s another well below normal temperature day across the Commonwealth as we continue to focus on the big storm system ahead of us. This is actually two systems trying to team up to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to our part of the world later this week.

Let’s start this off with what’s happening with the precious present. Clouds are stubborn again, but a ray of sun is going to try to show up for some areas. A few showers will also be noted from time to time with steadier rains in the west and north. Here are your radars…

Highs today are generally in the upper 40s to middle 50s range, but a spike into the 60s is likely across the south and southeast. It will be interesting to see just how strong of a temp gradient sets up within just a few miles.

The weather across the lower 48 has gone to the absolute extreme. I’ve billed this as a winter vs. tropics fight for more than two weeks now, but this pattern is turning into a true heavyweight fight. Historic cold, snow and ice continue across much of the plains and west. At the same time, Hurricane Zeta is working into the Gulf of Mexico and heading toward Louisiana later tomorrow. Here’s the latest from the National Hurricane Center…

cone graphic

The big system coming from the west is likely to merge with what’s left of Zeta by Thursday. This means a monster of a storm system rolls through here and up the east coast. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect across Kentucky:

  • This is a late Wednesday through Friday morning event.
  • Rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms will move across the state during this time.
  • Rainfall amounts of 1″-3″ will be possible, with locally higher amounts if storms do in fact crank.
  • Wind gusts of 30mph-40mph will be noted as the low pressure tracks across the region Thursday into Thursday night. Higher gusts will be possible.
  • Temps spike to near 70 for some areas for a short time on Thursday, but crash down behind the low on Friday. Temps for Friday are in the 30s to start and may not get out of the low and middle 40s for highs. Gusty winds will make it feel colder.

This same system then cranks across the northeast and may throw down a lot of snow for some there. Remember a few weeks ago when I opined about how 2012 was showing up as an analog? The setup is different, but Hurricane Sandy transitioned into a snowstorm across parts of the eastern US. There were even a few models hinting at a tropical system from the Caribbean doing just that and here we are.

Here’s how the various models are playing this whole setup:

The NAM only goes through Friday morning, but has one heck of a system…

That’s very similar to the Canadian…

The EURO as well…

The GFS continues to be too flat and too progressive and is likely playing into the bias of the model…

As the storm moves away on Friday, it’s a cold northwest wind setting up. Temps may stay deep into the 40s for many in the region.

Halloween starts frosty and ends with highs in the 50s with a partly sunny sky. Trick-or-treating looks crisp and clear before we set our clocks back one hour before going to bed Saturday night. Yep, it’s time to fall back!

Another cold front drops in here on Sunday with gusty showers and a blast of colder air. Flakes may fly just to our east in the mountains of West Virginia.

I’ll be back with another update later today. Until then, have a good one and take care.