Enjoy this beautiful sunshine and spring feel because everything is about to change as we roll closer and into the upcoming weekend. For the rest of tonight we are dry, clear and chilly. Friday will start off nice and sunny and we'll warm up pretty quickly hitting the mid 50s by the afternoon. That puts us close to where we need to be for normal.
A low pressure is looming and that will be responsible for bringing us warmth to start the event tomorrow, then plenty of moisture and very cold air to end the event. Somewhere in the middle of the event (Friday night) is where we have the chance to pick up some pretty heavy snow at times. Obviously, this week has been way too warm to let the ground still be frozen, so snow on the onset may have a difficult time sticking, but with a sharp drop in temperatures, snow could begin to pile up. Overall, we are expecting a good swath around Frankfort and west to only receive 1 to 3 inches. From northeastern KY, through Lexington toward Campbellsville, 2 to 5 inches is likely. On down the I-75 corridor including a good part of SE KY can expect 3 to 6 inches. Then there is a chunk of eastern KY that may receive in the 4 to 8 inch range. Should the temperatures drop later than expected, we'll all be on the lower side of these ranges.
Timing will be from late Friday night (mainly after midnight) through early Saturday morning. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for areas closer to I-65 until 10 am Saturday. A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for all of central, southern and eastern KY until Saturday afternoon. The Watch will likely become a Warning in the next 24 hours. Travel will absolutely be impacted through Saturday. Once the cold front has passed, temperatures will take a dive Saturday night and fall to the upper single digits with wind chills in the low single digits.
The winter blast will leave as quickly as it comes. For most, Sunday will be nice again with some sun and high temperatures in the low 40s. Most of next week returns to spring with the 50s and 60s again!
