South central Kentucky could see some decent storms overnight as a cold front advances into the area from the west. A line of strong storms has formed out west this afternoon stretching from Illinois to Arkansas. This line, associated with the advancing cold front, will arrive in far western Kentucky by about midnight tonight. While these storms will continue to intensify as they progress eastward, the major key holding back explosive convection for our area is the lack of instability occurring today. Given the amount of clouds hanging around today, there simply hasn’t been enough sunshine to warm the surface significantly like it has the past couple of days. Regardless, a strong low level jet along with sufficient moisture and fairly steep lapse rates leave open the possibility for some strong to severe weather overnight. The main threats appear to be heavy rain (likely an inch due to the slow movement of the cold front), damaging winds, and hail due to the height of the freezing level. The SPC has Bowling Green on the eastern edge of the slight region, with marginal chances for wind, hail, and even tornadoes.
Behind this cold front, winds will be gusty out of the northwest, advecting a very spring-like blast of cooler air to the Mid-South. Our high tomorrow will barely reach 60, but it’ll feel even cooler than that given the winds and the lingering clouds/light rain showers accompanied with the passing storm system. And even with some clouds still hanging around, we’ll dive to 40 for tomorrow night’s low.
