NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The weather pattern for January is roaring like a lion as a series of fronts brings Arctic air into the United States, and Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky are in line for this bitter cold. There are also chances of wintry precipitation such as snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Looking at the big picture, the Climate Prediction Center has issued an eight to 14 day temperature outlook highlighting a guarantee of below-average temperatures. This means our region could certainly experience temperatures running 20 to 30 degrees colder than average.
Now to the series of Arctic fronts and precipitation chances. The first is an Arctic cold front arriving Friday morning, which will bring a few snow flurries with no accumulation expected, but the colder air will take over. Temperatures are mainly in the 30s, feeling like the 20s.
The second system will be from Sunday to Monday. This is a massive weather system, likely to bring in many inches of snow in parts of Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. The setup and track of the surface low will be key for the precipitation type. At this time, the European forecast model has the low moving from Arkansas to Northern Tennessee and into Southern Kentucky. This track favors a predominately cold rain event for us with our Southern Kentucky counties possibly seeing an icing event Sunday morning before changing over to rain. If the low were to track farther south, the wintry mix and snow chances would increase more over our region into Middle Tennessee.
For Southern Kentucky into northern Middle Tennessee, a wintry mix will be possible, confined to a small window on Sunday morning. Then, precipitation changes to rain and ends as a wintry mix of snow Sunday night into Monday morning.
Monday’s cold temperatures are the beginning of the major Arctic air settling in for later this week. Projected temperatures could stay below freezing in Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky from early Monday morning to Thursday afternoon, potentially as long as 80 hours! Added wind will make it feel colder, and air temperatures could approach single digits for some locations on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
The key takeaways are that the first round of Arctic air arrives Friday with a few flurries, but colder air takes over. With that colder air in place there will be a window of opportunity on Sunday morning for a wintry mix near north of Interstate 40 into Southern Kentucky. This changes over to all rain through the day, but ends as snow with the system pulling out Sunday night into Monday morning. Then, the major Arctic plunge settles in with temperatures below freezing from Monday to Thursday early afternoon.
There is still a lot to track with this storm setup in the coming days. Stay tuned for updates and more specific forecasts and impacts for areas that may experience all wintry precipitation types!
