Will Lexington have a record cold Christmas this year? We asked a NWS meteorologist
Forecasters are calling for not just snow Thursday and Friday in Central Kentucky, but the possibility of a flash freeze, single-digit temperatures and wind chills cold enough for frostbite to develop in 15 minutes.
But are sub-zero wind chills enough to earn the upcoming winter storm a place within Kentucky’s coldest weather events?
Not quite, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ron Steve, though he acknowledged it normally doesn’t get this cold in the Bluegrass State until the depth of winter in January and February.
Overall, Steve told the Herald-Leader, it’s likely to be the coldest Christmas in nearly 20 years, though forecasted temperatures still pale in comparison to Lexington’s record cold for Dec. 23-25.
Lexington record cold temperatures
Here’s a look at Kentucky’s coldest temperatures for the Christmas holiday, according to the NWS.
Dec 23: Low of minus 11 degrees, coldest max temperature of 7 degrees (both in 1989)
Dec 24: Low of minus 10 degrees (1989), coldest max temperature of 9 degrees (1872)
Dec 25: Low of minus 9 degrees, coldest max temperature of 6 degrees (both in 1983)
The graphic below shows some of the coldest wind chills observed in December, all 30 below zero and colder.
“This weekend, we’ll have a couple days of wind chills below zero, with the coldest readings around 15 below,” Steve wrote in a follow-up email Tuesday.
The National Weather Service has a full list of the top 10 cold weather events in Kentucky online.
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