Much of Kentucky is preparing for a very cold weekend and a frigid start to next week. Forecasters predict temperatures on Tuesday could struggle to reach 30 degrees.
Dr. Greg Goodrich with the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU says a prolonged stretch of sub-freezing weather in Kentucky is unusual for November. He says a super typhoon in the Bering Sea last week has caused the mercury to plummet here.
“What that did is it dislodged the polar vortex and caused a piece of it to slide southward across Canada and into the United States,” said Goodrich . “And so the leading edge of that cold air crossed our area on Wednesday and looks like we’re going to get another reinforcing wave of that cold air here over the weekend to make it even colder early next week.”
Goodrich says these temperatures are more commonly seen during the winter months in Kentucky.
“What’s really unusual about this outbreak, is that it’s going to persist for more than a week. So, from Wednesday (Nov. 12) to at least next Wednesday it’s going to be colder than even January high temperatures,” said Goodrich. “ So, I mean this would be cold for January. On Tuesday of next week, we could have highs only in the 20s.”
Goodrich says this early cold snap doesn't necessarily portend below-average temperatures for the winter.