December 3, 2010: Cold weather to continue

 December 3, 2010:

**The Transportation Cabinet forecast is below the local regional forecast.**

This site is non-profit and brought to you as a public service.

You can find more updates on my Facebook (under Beau Dodson) - Twitter, as well.   

Bottom line it for me Beau...

For southern Illinois and far western Kentucky...

Severe or extreme weather risk for today, tonight, and tomorrow:  0%
Chance for freezing rain, sleet, or snow today, tonight, and tomorrow: 0% 
(small chance for light snow mixed with the light rain late tonight and tomorrow closer to Evansville)

Today - Becoming cloudy.  Cool.  High temperatures in the middle 40s.  Light winds.


Tonight - Cloudy with a slight chance for sprinkles or rain showers.  Cool.  Low temperatures in the middle 30s.  Light winds.

Saturday - Mostly cloudy.  A slight chance for rain showers.  High temperature in the lower 40s.  Winds becoming gusty from the northwest at 10-20 mph.

Saturday Night - Partly cloudy and colder.  Low temperatures near 25 degrees.

Your local National Weather Service seven day forecast for southern Illinois and western Kentucky can be viewed by clicking here.

Your regional and local radar - including precipitation type radar - click here.

Barometer reading this morning is in the 30.00-30.30" range.  Last 24 hours of data - click here. 

-----------------

Transportation Cabinet:  Districts 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12 may experience light winter precipitation this weekend - listen for updates from your local offices. With higher probability of impacts from frozen precipitation across districts 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12.  A slight chance for districts 4 and 8 of having some frozen precipitation before changing to rain.

-----------------

Good morning everyone.  A chilly Friday morning across the region.  Most of the southern Illinois and western Kentucky area is waking to temperatures in the 20s.  Same is true for most of the region.

Below normal temperatures are expected to continue through most of this week.  A cold start for the month of December.

A light precipitation event is forecast to clip our region late tonight and on Saturday morning.  This system will spread light rain and snow into the Ohio Valley.  Precipitation amounts are expected to be light for our immediate local counties in southern Illinois and western Kentucky.  Further east and northeast of our local counties there will be a better chance for rain and even accumulating snows.  Anyone traveling east into central or eastern Kentucky should check road conditions on Saturday and Saturday night.    Same is true if you are traveling into central and northern Illinois and portions of Indiana.

Let's take a look at what the Paducah, KY NWS put out this morning for their weather story map.  Click for larger image.  Same is true for all of the images on this page.  Click for a large view.


























Otherwise - a fairly dry pattern is on tap for our region.  After multiple precipitation events over the last few weeks - a quieter weather pattern is developing.  At least for the next five to six days.  Colder than normal temperatures will continue - expect portions of our region to dip into the teens during the upcoming work week.  Bundle up.  Brrrr


Transportation Cabinet Update:

No real changes to my previous thoughts.  The model of choice for this event is the EC and GFS.  Expect an area of rain and snow to spread into northern Kentucky late tonight and on Saturday morning.  The exact placement of the rain/snow line should be near districts 4 and 8.  Northwest of that line will have the best chance for snow.  Some areas will mix with rain tomorrow before changing back to all snow tomorrow night.

Snowfall accumulations are forecast to be light.  I am expecting a dusting up to 3 inches over portions of central and especially eastern Kentucky.  See districts above.  The areas where snow is favored because of local topography or enhancement can expect a bit more in the way of accumulation.

This is what the GFS is forecasting - these maps are never exactly right - but they give you an idea of where the forecast is heading.



















This image below is from the NWS Office out of Indianapolis

























And this map (below) is from the Jackson, Kentucky NWS office.























Light snow showers and flurries will continue into Saturday night - especially over eastern and southeastern Kentucky.  Some accumulation is possible on Saturday night before the bulk of the precipitation moves out on Sunday.

Some additional light snow or flurries will continue on/off on Sunday into Monday/Tuesday.  Depending on how the lake effect flow sets up.  

Let's take a quick look at the probability maps for 1" or greater of snow and the Saturday/Saturday night.  And one map for 2" or great of snowfall.  See descriptions under each map.




















The map above is for tonight and early tomorrow morning.  You can see an area of snow spreading southeast into portions of the Ohio Valley.




















The map above is for Saturday into Sunday morning.  You can see the probabilities for one inch or greater of snow.  Again - a minor event - but still some slick roadways are expected in some counties.




















The map above shows Sunday - snow continues for portions of southeast Kentucky.  But moving out.




















Finally the map above shows the probability of 2" or greater of snowfall on Saturday into Saturday night.


Temperatures will fall into the 20s on Saturday night and into the teens and 20s on Sunday night/Monday morning.  Low temperatures into the teens are expected on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  Coldest lows will be in areas that receive snowfall.

the following maps (below) are from www.wright-weather.com - they give you an idea as to what the low temperatures are forecast to be in the coming days.





















The map above is for around 1 am on Sunday morning.






















The map above is showing the low temperatures for Monday morning.  Cold.





















The map above is showing the low temperatures for Tuesday morning.























The map above is for Tuesday morning - low temperatures.























The map above is showing the low temperatures for Wednesday morning.  Another cold one.

This is a minor event - however,  it will likely be the first widespread snowfall for the eastern half of Kentucky.

Okay - I am at the airport and on my way to New York.  Hopefully everyone will have a nice weekend.  Next update will be late tonight or tomorrow morning.


- Meteorologist Beau Dodson
McCracken County Office of Emergency Management
Please visit Chris Bailey's weather blog if you live in central and eastern Kentucky http://www.kyweathercenter.com/ 
For the latest watches and warnings please visit your local National Weather Service Office http://www.weather.gov/organization.php

No comments:

Post a Comment