Weather Impact Alert Day | Snow, ice headed to Kentucky and Indiana

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Christmas season and most of December brought fairly mild winter temperatures but now a much bigger pattern shift comes into play as a storm system brews well to our west.

A combination of accumulating to plowable snow and dangerous amounts of freezing rain will bring extremely difficult travel to central Kentucky and southern Indiana beginning Sunday and persisting into early next week. Details on how much snow that we will receive are still being fine tuned but know that some locations of our area may pick up at least a half foot of snow or more.

Frigid cold temperatures (highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits) arrive Tuesday through at least Thursday. This will make it dangerous and life-threatening if you are stuck in a ditch or stranded in your vehicle traveling after the snow and ice storm.

If you have any last second travel to tend to post New Year’s, then we suggest doing that sooner rather than later. A significant winter storm will meander into the Midwest and Ohio River Valley during the day Sunday and into Monday. 

Most of the snow and freezing rain will develop to our west and will move through during the daytime hours Sunday. Snow will not initially be heavy, but we expect the snow to be heaviest Sunday evening through Monday morning. As temperatures hover at or just above freezing just above the surface, then some freezing rain will mix in.

The National Weather Service of Louisville called this a “potentially significant winter storm” on social media.

We are still analyzing the incoming impactful winter storm, but a swath of a half foot or more of snow is likely to affect spots along and north of I-64. This means Louisville will likely pick up at least a few inches of snow. However, please note the forecast still has time to change as the low pressure system swings in from our northwest.

Lesser amounts of snow are in the forecast for cities south of I-64. Plan on more of an issue with travel when it comes to ice accumulation if you reside on southern and central Kentucky. Remember, the forecast can still change. If the storm system wiggles further south, then that will bring more snow as opposed to ice for southern Kentucky.

Right now, models are hinting at the likelihood of a half inch or more of ice for certain locations. It does not take much ice for tree branches to fall or power outages to occur. 

It also only takes a tenth of an inch of ice for vehicles to slide and for travel to be very difficult.

Avoid travel at all costs during this winter storm! If you get stuck then you put yourself at risk or endanger those that are going to try and help you.

Continue to stay weather aware and follow the Weather Impact Team’s latest forecast. 

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