Strong Cold Front Wednesday Morning

As the title insinuates, this week is looking like a tale of two halves regarding temperature. The first half of the week will help to shake off the shivers that were gained from last week's cold spell as temperatures climb into the mid to upper 50's on Monday and mid to upper 60's for Tuesday and early Wednesday. Get out and enjoy the warm, but a mostly cloudy few days. Light rain showers may affect us Monday night into Tuesday morning due to a warm front to our north across central Illinois and Indiana. All in all, this substantial warming is preceding a rude awakening for Wednesday morning.

NAM 15Z (9 AM) 1/30/13 showing winds (kt), temperature (deg F), and mean sea level pressure (mb). Notice the wind change and stark temperature boundary over south-central Kentucky marking the cold frontal boundary.

A line of storms associated with a strong cold front will quickly push its way through our area around 9 am. Precipitation should be relatively brief, but intense with amounts for Bowling Green likely to be .75 to 1 inch in total. Along with heavy precipitation, damaging winds will be a key hazard associated with the strong temperature gradient as the front passes our area. After the frontal passage, expect the rain to stop after lunch with a quick cool down Wednesday night as temperatures drop back below freezing for Thursday morning. The rest of the week will stay on the cool side with a mid-week update to cover the details.

Days at a glance:

Monday: High: 58  Low: 43  Precip: 10% rain showers late night  Winds: S 12-17 mph

Tuesday: High: 68  Low: 53  Precip: 10% rain showers early morning  Winds: S 17-23 mph

Wednesday: High: 60  Low: 33 Precip: 100% chance of heavy rain around 9 am  Winds: S 23-29 mph then switching to WNW decreasing to 5-6 mph throughout the day

Forecaster: Austin Boys