Weekend shoppers might want to throw bread and milk in the grocery cart with their Valentine’s Day chocolates.
Forecasts indicate Western Kentucky will see 5 to 9 inches of snow with a storm that will begin late Sunday and continue into Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
The National Weather Service upgraded its forecast from a watch to a winter storm warning that will be in effect from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Tuesday for Hopkinsville and surrounding areas.
That’s the first storm that meteorologists are tracking. A second storm could produce more snow into Thursday, the NWS reported.
The forecast also calls for very cold temperatures with wind chills at zero or below.
Temperatures will dip to around 19 degrees Sunday night, and winds will gust as high as 20 mph. There is a 100% chance of precipitation in the evening, and a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain is possible.
On Monday, which is Washington’s Birthday, snow and sleet is expected before noon, and the snow could be heavy at times, forecasters said. There’s an 100% chance of precipitation during the day, and winds could gust up to 20 mph.
More snow, heavy at times, will continue Monday evening. The NWS predicts temperatures will dip to 11 degrees and winds will gust as high as 18 mph.
Snow is also likely on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the NWS report.
The National Weather Service office at Paducah recently published weather records for Valentine’s Day going back to the 1930s. The records are specific to Paducah, but weather conditions are often similar in Paducah and Hopkinsville.
Between 1938 and 2020, the normal high temperature was 49 and the normal low was 29.
The coldest recorded Valentine’s Day temperature was 10 degrees in 1971.
The most snow recorded on Valentine’s Day was 5 inches in 1944.
Last year on Valentine’s Day there was a trace of snow with a high of 29 degrees and a low of 13.
This story has been updated to reflect that the NWS issued a winter storm warning and predicted snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches on Sunday and Monday.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
