Good Saturday evening, everyone. The Arctic air arrived today and kept us well below normal across the Ozarks. After lows in the single digits this morning, highs only made into the upper teens to about 20° this afternoon. Looking ahead, we have First Alert Weather Days for Sunday and Monday with wind chill alerts, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories on the board.
Wind chill alerts in place through Tuesday(KY3)Winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings to take us into Monday(KY3)
With high pressure making sure we stay cold as another disturbance quickly comes out of the Pacific Northwest, that will make sure our next rounds of precipitation will be snow for Sunday and Monday. After a dry night with partly cloudy skies giving way to mostly clear skies at times, we’ll see clouds thicken up after sunrise. Between 10 and noon Sunday, areas along and west of US 65 will see the snow build in first. Between noon and 3 PM Sunday, areas along and south of US 60 will encounter periods of snow that could come down at a moderate to occasionally heavy clip at times. By early Sunday evening, any snow chances should be in northern Arkansas before drying out by 9 or 10 Sunday night.
Snow enters by noon Sunday(KY3)Snow for the southern half of the Ozarks Sunday afternoon(KY3)Snow in northern Arkansas Sunday evening(KY3)
After a quiet Sunday night and early start Monday morning, additional snow showers are expected to pass through the Ozarks along and north of US Highway 60 from midmorning into Monday afternoon. By 6 o’clock Monday evening, those snow showers should be out of here. In total, we’re thinking the northern Ozarks will have a range of snow amounts from Monday’s snow between a trace to up to 2 inches on the high end. Areas in the blue from Sunday and Monday’s snow should see totals between 1 and up to 3 inches. The heaviest of the expected snow in northern Arkansas should total between 3 and 5 inches with a few locally higher amounts possible.
Snow showers for the northern half of the Ozarks Monday(KY3)Accumulating snow totals Sunday through Monday(KY3)
With the rest of next week looking dry, let’s talk about temperatures. Lows tonight will drop back into the middle single digits below zero to about zero degrees by sunrise. We stay cold for the afternoon with highs mainly between 5° & 10° across the area.
Lows near or below zero Sunday morning(KY3)Single digits to about 10° Sunday afternoon(KY3)
Monday may show a small bump upward, but the numbers will remain cold. Lows will be near 0° Monday morning with highs in the lower to middle teens for the afternoon.
Lows near zero Monday morning(KY3)Highs in the lower to middle teens Monday(KY3)
The First Alert Weather Days for Sunday and Monday are also due to the dangerous wind chills, especially in the morning. Those numbers could be between -30° and -15° Sunday morning with the wind chills still around 0° for the day. Monday morning will still have quite a bite with wind chills between -15° and -5° and improving to about zero for the afternoon.
Wind chills between -30° & -15° Sunday morning(KY3)Wind chills between -20° & -10° Monday morning(KY3)
After another cold Tuesday with lows below zero and highs in the middle teens, a welcome warm up will come in by midweek. We’ll go back into the middle and upper 30s for Wednesday and Thursday. However, look at the drop back into the 20s on Friday.
Quick warm up midweek before another plunge(KY3)
That drop by next weekend will be due to another cold front and upper-level low dragging in another burst of cold air.
Another hit of cold air next weekend(KY3)
After lows in the teens and highs in the middle 20s on Friday, we look dry as we stay cold for next weekend. However, lows will drop into the middle single digits for both Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday may top out in the upper teens before climb back to 30° that Sunday. By the 21st and 22nd, we’re looking at highs back near 40° as we work toward the end of the month.
