After an exceptionally warm week last week, colder air made a return to the Commonwealth Friday and the colder temperatures and clouds stuck around for much of the weekend. The cold front that ushered in the colder weather weakened as it moved to our east thanks to a very strong low pressure system moving up the east coast named Hurricane Sandy. Speaking of Hurricane Sandy, this tropical system will quickly become extra-tropical as it gets absorbed into a negatively tilted trough that currently extends from southwest Ontario down into Kentucky. The system is expected to make landfall somewhere along the New Jersey shoreline Monday evening and wreak havoc on much of the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. Any impacts for us here in Kentucky?? Despite what you may initially think, our weather for much of this week will actually be controlled by post-tropical cyclone Sandy, but will she bring us a trick or a treat? The biggest impact on central Kentucky will be blustery winds. Winds will likely be sustained between 20-25 mph on Monday and between 25-30 mph on Tuesday; winds could gust between 35-40 mph.
NAM sea-level pressure and surface winds in knots for mid-day Tuesday. Winds are expected to be between 25-30 mph with gusts over 35 mph!
Sandy will also force the trough to stay put and thus we here in Kentucky will remain fairly cool. Overall, low temperatures will fall into the 30s while highs will only be reaching into the low to mid 50s. Skies should stay predominately clear however, as south-central Kentucky will be located in an area of dry air throughout most of the week. Occasionally some high clouds may move in from the east off of Sandy though the clouds should stay mainly to the east of I-65.
A conveyor belt of dry air will move over western and central KY bringing dry weather and sunny skies. Meanwhile eastern KY will deal with clouds and rain/snow.
Overall the week will be nice and sunny and if you can overlook the strong winds and cooler temperatures you might consider the weather a treat. As for eastern parts of Kentucky… Sandy Snow??? Now there’s a trick! Winter storm warnings have been posted for Pike, Letcher & Harlan Counties in extreme eastern KY as up to a foot of snow is possible in some of the higher elevations near the VA border; as of Sunday night light snow had already began to fall in these locations.
00Z NAM forecast total snowfall. Heavy Snow is expected over eastern Kentucky near the Virginia border. Winter storm warnings are posted for 3 counties in southeast KY.
Glancing into the later part of the week for us here in central KY, no rainfall is expected and a gradual warm-up should occur as the trough begins to break down..
Daily Forecast:
Monday: Low: 32 High: 54 Sunny skies and windy. Winds will be from the northwest increasing from around 8 mph early to between 20-25 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday: Low: 38 High: 57 Mostly Sunny with occasional high clouds. Windy! Winds will be from the northwest between 25-30 mph and winds could gust between 35-40 mph.
Wednesday (Halloween): Low: 31 High: 56 A beautiful sunny day and not as windy. West winds between 12-16 mph.
Thursday: Low: 35 High: 58 A few clouds are possible early before becoming mostly sunny. West-northwest winds between 8-12 mph.