Most of Kentucky, parts of Illinois and all of Tennessee are going to be under a winter storm warning starting late Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Those states join much of the southeast U.S. in bracing for a major snowstorm and cold temperatures.
The National Weather Service Office in Paducah updated its snowfall projections Thursday afternoon. Forecasters are telling communities in far western Kentucky and southern Illinois to prepare for at least four inches of snow on Friday.
Some communities closer to the Kentucky-Tennessee border, like Murray, could see between five and seven inches of snowfall, according to NWS projections.
NWS Paducah lead forecaster Justin Gibbs said the office is expecting “substantial traffic impacts” from the unusually heavy snowfall in the region.
The storm system will arrive between 10 p.m. Thursday night and 3 a.m. Friday morning for Kentucky counties along the Mississippi River, and will move eastward from there. The storm is expected to move out on Friday afternoon between 3 and 6 p.m. for counties near the Mississippi River; between 5 and 8 p.m. for areas between Mayfield and Madisonville; and between 7 and 10 p.m. for communities east of the Madisonville area.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews in far western Kentucky began treating roads in preparation for this snowstorm earlier this week.
Forecasters in western and middle Tennessee are projecting similar conditions for those areas.
