4/13 - 3:30pm - Severe Weather

We're under a Severe Thunderstorm WARNING until 3:45pm in Jefferson County. Areas near Bedford, IN are under a TORNADO WARNING right now. The Tornado WATCH for the area lasts until 9pm this evening with numerous cellular thunderstorms beginning to form to our west. These will most likely merge into a broken line of storms and come through in the next hour. We could see more cells come through after the central line as well.

UPDATE 3:32 - Quarter-sized hail coming into Louisville right now. Tornado reported near Bedford.

4/11 - 1:30pm - New Forecast Video

A nice Easter weekend is in progress, but severe weather may come into the picture early next week. It's hard to tell exactly how bad it will get here, but could be an active day across the Southeast on Monday.

4/10 - 9pm - Tennessee Tornadoes

We were lucky to only see pea-sized hail and heavy rain here in Louisville today, but areas to our south fared much, much worse. The worst of the weather was in Rutherford County, TN, where I was born and lived for the first few weeks of my life before moving to Louisville. A tornado ripped through Murfreesboro, TN and traveled through other Rutherford County towns like Smyrna, destroying more than 20 homes, killing two people, and leaving dozens injured. Here's a picture of the well-defined tornado over the Murfreesboro Airport, home to the Middle Tennessee State University aerospace program:



A damage survey will be completed tomorrow by the NWS in Nashville to determine the scale of this tornado. I know Rutherford County pretty well (30 miles south of Nashville), so seeing the pictures and reading the reports out of that area is pretty shocking.

There were tornadoes with reported injuries in other parts of the Southeast as well, including Kentucky:



For a complete wrap-up of today's tornado damage, click here.

Rain should continue for a couple more hours tonight before clearing out for a beautiful Easter weekend. We should see 60 degrees for tomorrow, but I think we'll warm up a bit more for Easter Sunday, possibly into the mid 60's. Rain chances pick up quite a bit on Monday.

4/9 - 5:30pm - Severe Weather, A Nice Easter Weekend

What a great day! It got a bit warmer than expected with 67 degrees for a high, so this is really a bonus for us before tonight and tomorrow's rain and storms.

Speaking of precipitation, here's the current radar view:



That rain near Evansville should be here tonight and continue through the day tomorrow. We may see a short break in the rain during the late morning before potentially severe storms come through tomorrow afternoon and evening. Here's the latest severe weather outlook from the SPC:



Notice how the 30% risk is in Southern Kentucky. This is where the SPC thinks the biggest tornado risk exists. I think this area could be extended further north into the Louisville area if the higher CAPE (instability) values for Friday on today's SREF model are indeed correct and if cloudcover doesn't become an issue. The dampener though is weaker shear in our area compared to Tennessee, so that may keep the tornadoes suppressed to the south. In any case, wind and hail will be the main issues. Things should get hammered out by tomorrow morning, so stay tuned!

The total rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow from the HPC is pretty impressive:



Areas in Southwestern Indiana could see more than two inches of rain, but it looks like the immediate Louisville will get somewhere around an inch and a half.

This system will give way to a nice Easter weekened with highs near 60 and sunny skies. Next storm chance occurs on Monday.

4/8 - 6:15pm - Warm Weather is Back!

59 degrees for a high today feels pretty good after suffering through 40-degree weather for the first half of this week! I'd say that's a return to Spring!

Temperatures will continue to rise for the rest of the workweek, with highs topping out in the mid to upper 60's through Friday. Thunderstorms come into the picture starting on Thursday evening and will continue on Friday. We're under a SLIGHT risk for severe weather from the SPC on Friday:



It's too early to tell exactly how severe these storms will be, but it looks like hail and wind will be the main problems based on current shear indications. A few tornadoes are also possible, so keep those weather radios in alert mode!

We'll clear out for Easter weekend with temperatures in the lower 60's.

4/7 - 7:30pm - Spring is Returning!

You may think that the title for this blog entry is misleading based on the fact that we're under a Freeze WARNING tonight, but it really will begin warming up starting tomorrow. After a low around freezing tonight, we'll top out around 60 tomorrow with a few morning sprinkles possible. Rounds of thunderstorms look likely starting late Thursday afternoon and continuing until Friday evening, with highs in the lower 60's for both days.

The weekend looks great, with lower 60's on Saturday and mid 60's on Sunday. Easter egg hunts shouldn't have any weather problems with sunny skies sticking around. Rain comes back into the area for early next week as low pressure moves into the area.

Thundersnow? In the middle of April!? That's right, early this morning a band of snow showers between Crawford County, IN and Hardin County, KY became convective and started putting down heavy snow. Lightning and thunder was reported in Brandenburg.


(Notice the yellow areas on this radar snapshot this morning... thundersnow!)

For complete analysis of this morning's thundersnow, head on over to Louisville's National Weather Service website where they have a write-up on this wacky event.

4/6 - 10pm - Last Blast of Cold Air

I didn't realize how cold it was getting behind last night's cold front until the automatic doors opened in front of me as I was exiting the baggage claim at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The cold air hit me like a bag of bricks, especially because I was wearing the Caribbean-appropriate shorts and t-shirt combo. So much for a nice welcome home!

Back home now in jeans and long sleeves, it's good this cold weather won't last long. We'll struggle to get above 40 tomorrow with some flurries in the morning, but 60 is a good bet for Wednesday. I'm thinking we'll see 70 next week after we slowly rise through the 60's this week. The next rain system will be in here on Thursday and last until Friday. Easter weekend looks sunny and warm!