Update 2:15 pm: At the request of the McCracken County Sheriff, KYTC has closed the US 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge in Paducah until further notice due to icing on the deck.
The National Weather Service’s Winter Storm Warning remains in effect through 6 a.m. Thursday morning as heavy rain creates flooding problems across our listening area.
As temperatures drop below freezing this afternoon, rain will change to sleet and eventually snow through tonight before tapering off tomorrow morning.
NWS has called for 6-8 inches of snow accumulation in the Jackson Purchase area and even higher amounts to the northeast. About an inch of ice and sleet will precede the snow.
NWS has updated the timing of the transition of sleet to snow for much our listening area. By 6pm it should be all snow north of a line from Mayfield to Calhoun, Kentucky with sleet to the south. The sleet will changeover to snow over the remaining area by 9pm tonight.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet urges motorists to use caution as flooding on roadways continues to be an issue. KYTC is reporting multiple landslides in Caldwell and Muhlenberg Counties.
Here is a helpful link for checking local rainfall totals and predictions: http://www.kymesonet.org/
Tuesday Afternoon:
The National Weather Service has declared a winter storm warning for our listening area as forecasts call for ice and heavy snowfall tomorrow.
A cold front is expected to drop temperatures below freezing tonight and tomorrow morning. Coupled with heavy rain, it has the potential to produce heavy snowfall with accumulations ranging from 6 to 8 inches across western Kentucky and as much as one inch of sleet.
NWS Meteorologist Jim Packett says banded snowfall may produce even higher amounts northeast of the Jackson Purchase Area.
“Generally 25 miles either side of the line from New Madrid, Missouri up to Calhoun, Kentucky which would include Evansville and would come down to Greenville, Kentucky, we can include Paducah, it would be north of Murray, Mayfield, southern Pennyrile area, there could be a swath of 8-10 inches in that area and even the potential for maybe slightly higher amounts than that.”
Flooding may be an issue for low-lying areas and roadways with up to 3 inches of rain on already saturated ground. NWS also says to prepare for a chance of isolated power outages.
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Heavy rain is expected to start in the early morning across western Kentucky. NWS Meteorologist Jim Packett says the precipitation will transition from north to south.
“We're expecting locally heavy rain as well as some thunderstorms generally south and east of the Ohio River," said Packett. "Expect the temperature to start changing over Wednesday morning. At noon, you can see temperatures dropping quite a bit in the wake of that cold front, very strong cold front. So basically, we anticipate precipitation to change over from liquid to sleet initially and then to snow and it looks the greatest accumulations area-wide will be Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening.”
NWS puts snowfall amounts at 6-10 inches locally with lesser amounts further north.
Packett says the storm will be a strong but quick blast.
"Wednesday morning it will just be getting going, but after midnight Wednesday night it will be basically diminishing from northwest to southeast," said Packett. "So Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday evening should be the primetime for any accumulating snow."
Some flooding may occur when mixed with existing un-melted snow which will impact travel across the region.
