We’re currently experiencing the final day of an absurd cold stretch across our vicinity, where many locations haven’t seen temperatures above freezing in well over a week. That all changes Sunday, however, and it may lead to winter weather shenanigans for southern Kentucky.

Just how cold has it gotten the past few days, you ask??

Heavy snow on the S side of Warren County this morning.

We had to take advantage of the last day of extreme cold. pic.twitter.com/lso63aD9xe

— ☃️wxornotBG❄️ (@wxornotBG) January 6, 2018

Cold enough to transform boiling water straight into ice crystals. Hey…we had to have some fun with the last day of brutal cold.

Farewell, Cold

This is it, folks! We’ve made it. We’re on the cusp of a period of time when ice scrapers won’t be needed, and you won’t have to dress for a ski trip to walk your dogs.

Today, though, it’ll stay cold. Early morning readings in the single digits will only recover to the low/mid 20s this afternoon. At least the sun will be out…

Warm Up Sunday, Winter Weather Shenanigans Follow

A system will transverse east across the Deep South Sunday through Monday night, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on things Sunday evening.

The good news is that it’ll be warmer, with Sunday afternoon highs near 40˚. Cloud cover will increase through the day, with the onset of precipitation arriving after sunset.

The NAM 3km model above is valid from 9am Sunday through noon Monday. As you can see, widespread precip arrives by 9pm, with possible winter weather shenanigans for southern Kentucky between 9pm Sunday and 9am Monday.

We literally could see all types of precipitation…freezing rain, plain jane rain, sleet, snow, cats, dogs, frogs…who knows, it is Kentucky.

Temperatures will be hovering around the freezing mark, but there’s another concern. The extended cold streak we’ve been on has frozen the ground 2-5″ deep in places.

Currently, at the office, we have a frost depth of 4″. That means the soil is frozen from the surface down 4″. This is only one of the routine measurements we take during the winter. #inwx #kywx pic.twitter.com/BPsRxcQHMT

— NWS Louisville (@NWSLouisville) January 4, 2018

Any precipitation that falls will likely freeze/stick during this period. The following slides from the Louisville NWS is a nice illustration of what to anticipate:

Obviously, the Monday morning commute will need to monitored very, very closely. If you have plans of traveling during this time…which, obviously, many of us do, please exercise caution and keep an eye on this evolving weather pattern.

Warming Trend In Store

Temperature readings are expected to climb above freezing on Monday, eventually hitting their ceiling in the low 40s as we get into the evening hours. We’ll also be dealing with widespread, light rain showers throughout.

Thermometers will continue to skyrocket Tuesday into Wednesday thanks to strong, southerly winds. Tuesday afternoon we’ll be near 50˚, hitting 60˚ Wednesday. Gotta love that Kentucky weather.

We’ll be posting frequent updates on our real-time weather feed @wxornotBG. You can find more information there. Stay safe, and enjoy the weekend.