Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY
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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