Good Thursday afternoon. This is a wild, wild pattern that’s just getting started. From the heavy rain and wind threat this weekend to the return of arctic cold and winter… we have a ton going on. Your friendly weatherdude is going to be a busy boy in the coming weeks.

A few things are becoming a bit more clear on the weekend setup…

– Flooding rain still looks to be the biggest threat. Much of central and western Kentucky could be looking at 2″-5″ of water from Friday through early Sunday. Here’s the threat map…

Special– High winds will also be of concern. Wind gusts of 40mp+ will be possible.

– The severe storms threat is still there, but I am not as high on the potential as earlier. That could still change.

– The temperature gradient will be amazing across the Ohio Valley. Sunday will start in the mid to upper 60s and end with readings falling toward the freezing mark.

– Snow showers and flurries look to be around for Monday into Christmas Eve Day. It looks windy and it looks cold!

– A system working in by Thursday has the look of snow maker.

– There’s another system behind that tries to produce a more significant system on the last weekend of the year.

– The cold continues to be king and it’s going to bust my winter forecast. The winter is now likely to turn out colder and snowier than my forecast from back in mid November. Such is weather life.

I will update things later today. Take care.