What goes up must eventually come down, and our temperatures will in a BIG way this weekend. Savor the warmth with highs running almost 15 degrees above normal for the next couple of days. It's a pattern we've enjoyed for most of the last several weeks. It's time is also now very limited as the pattern looks to be undergoing a fundamental shift by this weekend. The cold shot coming doesn't appear to be a short term thing at this point.
Part of the pattern shift will be coming from the remnants of Tropical Storm (eventual Hurricane) Nicole. As this late season storm comes north, it will gather in the upper level ridge and its heat into it and transport it north and away. In its wake, a batch of Arctic air (November version) will plunge southward including us. It will take our highs anywhere from 15 to 20 degrees below normal, balancing out this current warmth. In the big picture, these cold pushes look to dominate our overall weather pattern.
Nicole could also bring some much needed rain, especially in eastern Kentucky. If the storms takes a little more westward drift, which is seeming like a better possibility now, then some decent rainfall totals are on the table. There will likely be a pretty sharp cutoff to the rain Friday, so rainfall amounts will decrease rapidly on the western side of the system.
