WINTER STORM WARNING: Heavy Snow Expected Tuesday for Lower Ohio Valley

Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories have been posted across much of the Lower Ohio River Valley, the Central Appalachians and into parts of the Mid-Atlantic for a storm set to arrive Tuesday/Tuesday Night across the region.

Today's 12z run of the Hi-Res NAM (North American Model) shows the all modes of precipitation developing from west to east early during the morning hours on Tuesday as low pressure develops to the south across Northern Dixie.

The rain/snow line looks to set up near the Kentucky Parkways with all rain to the south, a mixture along the parkways and a band of heavy-wet snow to the north that looks to develop during the day Tuesday between the parkways and the Interstate 64 corridor into Southern Indiana and North-Central Kentucky.

This whole system looks to produce several hours of wet snow that could fall moderately heavy for a while with snowfall rates approaching one inch per hour. The snow looks to gradually wind down Tuesday evening as the system slides east into the Mid-Atlantic States.

So how much are we talking about?

We are seeing some pretty good agreement between the models at this point with both the Euro and Hi-Res NAM pointint towards a large swath of THREE to SIX inches for areas along the Ohio River in Southern Indiana and through much of North-Central and Eastern Kentucky. Areas furthern south near the Kentucky Parkways and further north into parts of Southern Indiana are looking at a general ONE to THREE inch snowfall amounts. Elsewhere, into Southern Kentucky and Central Indiana looks to remain snow free this time.

Further Thoughts

Because of the timing of this system and rate of snowfall, this system will cause travel delays and school closures on Tuesday. However, unlike the storm that ravaged the area back in early January, this one doesn't look to be followed by extreme cold and in fact temps look to warm back into the mid 40's with rain developing as ANOTHER Winter Storm passes to the north on Wednesday bringing heavy snows for the Plains State and into the Great Lakes.

This should help clear our roads at least until the next batch of snow arrives which could occur as early as Sunday.

Stay tuned.