A real blast of winter will be a preview to this Christmas weekend across the Commonwealth. Arctic air combines with a weather system moving across the U.S. to create a major drop in temperatures along with some freezing precipitation. Temperatures are expected to fall some 40 degrees over several hours early Friday. Chase Graham is a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Louisville. He said the central Kentucky region is likely to see a quick move from rain to snow, but it’s not expected to mean a buildup of ice.
“Not in the sense like freezing rain which would stick to the power lines and cause them to get weighed down and break. Really, the chance for power outages might be due to just the strength of the wind,” said Graham.
Graham said scheduling traveling this weekend may be a challenge. He said ideally, it would be best to travel during the day Thursday, ahead of the drop in temperatures. If that’s not possible, the next slightly warmer day will come Monday when highs are predicted to reach close to 30 degrees.
Alex Vorst is a meteorologist out of the Jackson National Weather Service office. Much of the same bitter cold is predicted for eastern Kentucky along with some snow. As far as a white Christmas, Vorst said it’s likely to be a hit or miss situation.
“The big question is with the wind associated with the system, that wind’s not really going to fall. Because there’s chances of blowing snow and things like that so there will be snow on the ground but it’s just how long before if blows away somewhere else. So, someone is going to get a white Christmas and some’s not necessarily gonna see a white Christmas, but there will be snow for Christmas.”
Vorst said the conditions expected the next few days are similar to weather events back in the late 1980’s. He noted the extremely bitter cold air originated in the arctic region before making its way down into the continental United States. The running of a thin stream of water is suggested to help prevent freezing inside water lines when the temps plunge way below the freezing mark. Wind chill conditions are predicted to reach as low as minus 20 to 25 in some areas.
