As Wednesday’s major winter storm was wrapping up across the area, light snow fell and officially a trace of snow fell in Bowling Green; just a winter weather tease so to speak. Behind the system also came cold air. Highs on Thursday only reached 36 degrees at the Bowling Green-Warren County airport under an overcast sky. Speaking of overcast skies we really haven’t seen much of the sun since last weekend and we won’t see the sun again until Sunday. That’s nearly a full week without sunny skies. We’ll be seeing more than just cloudy skies by this afternoon/evening however. Drizzle or light rain should start sometime around 1 pm and then continue into the evening and overnight. Rainfall will be fairly light but steady and anywhere from a quarter to a half of an inch of rainfall is expected by morning.
The Hyrdometeorological Prediction Center’s total precipitation forecast shows around a half an inch across south-central Kentucky. Some of this will be rainfall while some of it will fall as sleet and snow.
Temperatures today will reach the low 40s but they will continually cool during the evening and overnight. With cooling temperatures and continued precipitation, a chance of a wintry mix and eventually snow exists after midnight. Sometime between midnight and 3 am is when sleet and snow should begin to mix with rain and eventually a change to all snow is expected sometime early Saturday morning.
High-Resolution NAM model showing the rain/snow line bisecting south-central Kentucky around midnight tonight. This is not a forecast but rather just one computer model.
At this time no significant accumulation is expected and for this reason it will be just another winter weather tease for south-central Kentucky. Nevertheless, up to an inch of accumulation is possible by Saturday morning. This is not to say we will see an inch as some locations especially further south likely will see no accumulation but areas further north and west (Butler & Ohio Co etc…) stand a decent chance at some minor accumulations. Snow chances and totals will increase as you go north and along the Ohio River some locations could receive 2-4 inches of snow. In fact a Winter Weather Advisory is posted along and to the northwest of the Western Kentucky Parkway. Snow showers/flurries should continue throughout much of the day Saturday and at the very least it will be another cloudy cold day. Cool WNW winds at 8-12 mph will keep highs in the low to mid 30s. Clouds should finally begin to clear out Saturday night as a surface high pressure moves in; these two factors combined with light winds will make for a very cold start to Sunday with lows upper teens. The sun will make a return to the area by Sunday with the high pressure overhead but it will still be chilly with highs only near 40. The sunshine will be short lived however as another system is poised to impact the area Monday afternoon into New Year’s Day. At this time the system should bring predominately liquid precipitation but there is a possibility it could bring yet another winter weather tease.
Daily Forecast:
Today: Cloudy skies with a 80% chance of light rain after 1 pm. High around 40. Southeast to south winds at 3-8 mph. Around 0.1-0.25 inches of rainfall.
Tonight: 90% chance of precipitation which will start as rain and mix with and change to snow by morning. Low near 30. Around 0.1-0.25 inches of rainfall. Up to an inch of snowfall possible. WNW winds from 3-8 mph.
Saturday: 50% chance of snow showers/flurries. Otherwise cloudy and cold with a high near 34. WNW winds at 8-12 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy skies will become mostly clear. Cold with a low around 19. Northwest winds from 4-9 mph becoming light by morning.
Sunday: Mostly Sunny with a high around 39. Winds will be light and from the SW to south.
Monday: Morning low near 29 with a high around 41. Cloudy with a 40% chance of afternoon showers.