Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY

Home |  Current Version |  Previous Version |  Text Only |  Print | Product List |  Glossary On
Versions: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
850
FXUS63 KJKL 090454 AAB
AFDJKL

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
National Weather Service Jackson KY
1154 PM EST Mon Dec 8 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Mainly dry weather is expected through Tuesday night.

- Some slick or icy spots may develop tonight on untreated roads,
  bridges, and overpasses.

- Gusty southwesterly winds between 30 and 40 mph are likely on
  Wednesday.

- The pattern remains active through the end of the work week,
  although confidence remains low in each passing system`s
  precipitation type forecast.

- A much colder airmass is forecast to move into the region for
  the weekend, with widespread low temperatures in the teens
  likely.

&&

.UPDATE...
Issued at 1140 PM EST MON DEC 8 2025

Hourly grids were adjusted for the clearing and scattering out of
clouds in the north though clouds remain generally south of the
Mountain Parkway with some low clouds also persisting into Estill,
Powell, and Montgomery counties. The low level winds aloft are
forecast to become more easterly and then south to southwest
overnight where the low level moisture/clouds are present and this
should result in limited clearing/scattering for the remainder of
the night. Guidance suggests with the south to southwest flow that the
low clouds should tend to spread back to the north and northeast
later tonight. Overall, the lowest min T should be in the north
where some places will have min T in the teens (some KY Mesonet
stations in typical cold spots are already there.

UPDATE Issued at 740 PM EST MON DEC 8 2025

Low clouds linger across the area though cloud heights have
increased form the north. Thus far this has limited the drop in
temperatures and the degree of clearing will determine how much of
the northern sections of the area, mainly valleys, could reach the
upper teens. A few flurries may still linger in the southeast, but
the main concern is as temperatures drop following the snowfall
from earlier today for some freezing or refreezing. This would be
mostly a concern on untreated surfaces, secondary and tertiary
roadways, bridges, and overpasses. KYTC in Pike County has
reported some slick or icy spots had developed on a couple of US
119 overpasses between Pikeville and the Belfry area. With this in
as temperatures falling at least well into the 20s, went with an
SPS for slick or icy spots for tonight.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday night)
Issued at 425| PM EST MON DEC 8 2025

Remaining snow is quickly winding down late today as the
supporting upper level shortwave trough passes east of our area
and surface low pressure transitions eastward well of the
southeast coast. Surface high pressure passing to our north is
sending drier air southward into northern KY, but the influx will
be short-lived as the high slips away to the east. The clearing
line has been making very slow progress south with the drier air,
reach near the OH/KY border as of late afternoon. Models want to
bring the clearing south into the northern part of the JKL
forecast area tonight. However, it has been very difficult to
erode low stratus in recent weeks. Have backed off on the clearing
from what models might suggest. However, confidence in the sky
forecast for tonight meager. If clouds are able to break up at
least in the northern portion of the area as is currently
forecast, this would allow temperatures to drop off well in
valleys in light of the fresh snow in our northern counties. Once
again, it will be stated that it depends on a questionable sky
forecast.

A shortwave trough and associated surface low passing well to our
north on Tuesday will set up a tightening pressure gradient
against the surface high having passed to our east and southeast.
This will bring warm air advection on increasing breezes. With
increasing low level moisture lagging behind, this should get rid
of any remaining low clouds, but high clouds arriving will cut
into the amount of sun to be seen.

Another shortwave and clipper type system rotating through a mean
eastern CONUS trough will be approaching from the northwest on
Tuesday night. A still increasing gradient and eventual increase
in clouds will make it difficult for most of the area to cool off
much on Tuesday night. Aside from nights with low clouds, our
eastern valleys almost always find a way to decouple and see
temperature drops. Cooler lows have been forecast there, but
forecast confidence on valley temps on Tuesday night is also not
very high. Clouds will eventually thicken up, and precip in the
system`s warm air advection regime could be arriving from the
northwest around dawn.

.LONG TERM...(Wednesday through Monday)
Issued at 447 PM EST MON DEC 8 2025

Broader troughing, with embedded progressive short wave troughs,
will be the story aloft generally east of the Rockies through the
rest of the week. The pattern will be more amplified on the front
end of the period. While the model agreement is good regarding
the long wave pattern, timing of the smaller scale features and
sensible weather details continue to be challenging to predict
with confidence. As such, have stuck closer to the blended
guidance for precipitation chances. Did make some minor
temperature adjustments for a few periods, mainly to incorporate
ridge/valley temperature differences, as well as to play up more
diurnally-limited temperature regimes, where confidence was a bit
higher regarding the cloudier and colder spells.

We start out in the middle of the week, with gusty southwest
winds. The 12z ensemble probabilities have come down just a bit
for seeing 40 mph gusts on the GFS compared to the 00z run. As
such, have maintained continuity with the previous forecast,
sticking with the 90th percentile blended guidance from later in
the morning through the early afternoon hours, when wind gusts
will peak in the 30 to 40 mph range. Wednesday will likely be the
warmest day of the week, with highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s.
Mainly rain will overspread the area from northwest to southeast
during the day, as a frontal system traverses southeast from the
Ohio Valley into the Tennessee Valley. Some upslope snow will
follow Wednesday night into early Thursday, with precipitation
chances lingering in the forecast from Thursday night through
Friday night, generally favoring locations east of I-75. Will
continue to keep precipitation types generalized to rain and/or
snow, as temperature profiles remain low confidence. A
reinforcement of colder air follows for this weekend, although
spread remains large within the ensemble envelope. Overnight lows
in the teens look probable for most valleys, especially Sunday
night, with the surface high in closer proximity. Highs will
retreat to the 30s this weekend, before recovering above 40 by
early next week.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening)
ISSUED AT 735 PM EST MON DEC 8 2025

Low clouds remained across the region at issuance time with VFR
ceilings in the far north and mainly VFR ceilings further south
though there were some scattered IFR reports as well for a few
ridgetop airport locations. The mainly MVFR will linger for the
next few hours with some uncertainty as to how far south
improvements to VFR may reach and guidance hints at the MVFR
possibly returning north and east for a time late tonight to early
on Tuesday. Winds will be light and variable through 12Z and then
become southwest and increase to the 5 to 10KT range on average
to end the period. Winds aloft will increase late in the period,
near sunset and LLWS wind shear may become a threat prior during
the last couple hours of the period.

&&

.JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

$$

UPDATE...JP
SHORT TERM...HAL
LONG TERM...JKL
AVIATION...JP