NWS Paducah provides update on winter system

The first week of 2025 is bringing the possibility of wintry weather — a likely mixture of snow, sleet and ice — as well as potentially dangerous windchills to the area.

The following is a statement from the National Weather Service in Paducah regarding a Saturday/Sunday, Jan. 4-5, 2025 winter storm.

"A potent winter storm is still on track to move into the Quad State Region late Saturday night through Sunday night, with the potential to bring all types of wintry weather to portions of southeast Missouri, western Kentucky, southern Illinois and far southwest Indiana. The wintry mix will include rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow. The best chance of seeing mainly rain will be closer to the Tennessee border in western Kentucky and the Arkansas border in southeast Missouri. There may still be some slippery travel in those areas late Saturday night into Sunday morning before temperatures warm above freezing.

We are still seeing some differences in the models this morning with some models showing colder air in place and some showing a warmer system, which impacts where the transition from a wintry mix to plain rain will occur. That is why we see changes in the forecast with each update and why we will expect to see additional changes over the next 24 hours or so. This system will move into the northwest part of the United States this evening, which will allow our observation network to sample it better...leading to fewer model differences.

Significant ice accumulations are possible across portions of southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, southwest Indiana and northern portions of western Kentucky. A winter storm watch has been issued from late Saturday night through Sunday night for those locations. A winter storm watch means that significant accumulations of freezing rain, sleet and snow are possible and may lead to hazardous travel conditions.

Before traveling this weekend, make sure you check the local forecast, look into the local road conditions and be sure to tell others your route and anticipated travel time. It is also a good idea to make sure you have an emergency preparedness kit in your vehicle.

Outside of the wintry precipitation chances, we are still concerned about the very cold air filtering into the area next week. Many locations will only see high temperatures in the teens and 20s with overnight lows dropping into the single digits above zero to the low teens. Wind chill readings are expected to drop into the single digits to around zero. The cold temperatures may be especially dangerous if there are power outages due to any ice accumulations across the area."