Staying cold with a few snowflakes late week

Look for one final push of Arctic air into the weekend

3 hours ago

T.G. Shuck,

It was another frigid start to Wednesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky as we stayed locked into the Arctic cold pattern across the Ohio Valley. Most locations dropped down into the single digits for early morning lows, with a few lower teens across our southern counties. Even with a light west wind, wind chills did manage to go below zero in spots north of I-64 around daybreak so it wasn’t much fun to be out early. We did enjoy a good bit of sunshine across the area, although it didn’t do much to moderate temperatures given the solid snow and ice on the ground as afternoon highs topped out in the upper teens and low 20s. However any sunshine helps with some slow melting despite staying below freezing and gives the road crews good conditions to continue to get the streets and roads in better shape.

We should start Thursday in similar fashion with most spots dropping into the mid to upper range single digits but fortunately there won’t be much wind around so the overall wind chill shouldn’t be much of an issue. Unfortunately folks that have had to be out early so far this week are quickly becoming acclimated to the very cold mornings. Thursday looks like a decent day considering the pattern we are in with a mix of clouds and sunshine early before clouds thicken up late day ahead of another wave of energy that should bring a few snowflakes by Thursday night potentially. Afternoon highs will creep back into the mid-20s, and while this is closer to where we should be for an average morning low in late January, that’s not bad given the recent cold spell.

Closing out the week Friday and heading into the weekend, look for a few light snow showers along with mostly cloudy skies as the aforementioned wave of energy helps push one last parting shot of reinforcing Arctic air into the region. Temperatures will be slightly colder Friday with afternoon highs backing down a few degrees into the low 20s with those occasional flakes flying around. Our coldest morning of the stretch will be on Saturday morning when temperatures may make a run toward 0 degrees, although we’ve seen an upward trend in expected lows, which would keep most spots from falling below zero. The big thing to watch is an east coast low developing off the Carolinas as many of the major models throw moisture back into the Arctic air camped out over our region. This would put the mountains of Eastern Kentucky in line for some light accumulating snow on Saturday with a sharp cut-off the farther west you go. The exact track is still to be determined so that’s something we’ll keep an eye on.

Our weather looks quiet to welcome February on Sunday with some sunshine returning and afternoon either side of the 20 degrees mark. Another fast moving clipper system could bring some quick hitting snow showers on Groundhog Day Monday (that should be interesting how that prediction plays out) but the biggest story will be the Arctic air finally relaxing out. High temperatures should jump back into the upper 20s on Monday with parts of Southern Kentucky back in the low 30s. The elusive “freezing mark” threshold of 32 degrees may finally be eclipsed on Tuesday with most spots sneaking back into the low and mid-30s, which will continue the melting process for all the snow and ice on the ground. The data is showing a potential rain/snow maker, depending on temperatures working our way toward the middle part of next week so we’ll keep an eye on that system in the coming days.