Significant severe weather possible Tuesday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – A significant severe weather outbreak is possible across the Ohio Valley today. A rare Level 4 Severe Risk is in place for the northern half of the ABC 36 viewing area. This does include Lexington and Frankfort, as well as the Louisville and Cincinnati metro areas. A Level 3 Severe Risk is in place for southern and southeastern Kentucky.

Damaging wind gusts upwards of 70-75 mph, large hail upwards of 2″+, and large tornadoes are all possible. The timeframe of the strongest storms will be during the midday and last through the evening hours. This severe weather may come in multiple waves as well, including a morning round of storms for north-central Kentucky. That would be ahead of a break before midday and afternoon severe storms fire up. Then a line of storms that could pose a damaging wind gust threat later into the evening hours.

There is still some uncertainty surrounding the formation of the strong supercells during the afternoon hours. If we see a blanket of cloud cover and some midday rain, that could limit the growth of these supercells and limit our tornado threat. If there is a period of sunshine during the midday and afternoon, that will lead to a very unstable airmass that could lead to stronger storms. The ABC 36 Weather Team will be monitoring these conditions throughout the day.

A Flood Watch remains in effect for areas along and north of I-64 and the Mountain Parkway. Multiple rounds of strong thunderstorms could lead to a localized flash flooding threat.

Cold air moves in on the backside of this system for Wednesday into Thursday. This will lead to chilly off and on rain showers on Wednesday, and then the chance of a few snow flakes flying Thursday morning. Temperatures will likely stay in the 40s for high temperatures from Wednesday through Friday before finally rebounding by the weekend.

Stay with the ABC 36 Weather Team for more updates.