A winter storm watch is in effect south of Louisville as National Weather Service forecasters anticipate more snow for Kentucky Friday, with higher amounts expected in the southern half of the state.

The watch, active until late Friday night, extends as far north as Hardin County and stretches into parts of southeastern and southwestern Kentucky. The weather service stated early Wednesday morning it expects to see 4-5 inches of snowfall Friday for counties in the watch area, with locally higher amounts possible.

In the Louisville metro area, 2-3 inches of new snowfall is possible. Current estimates show a 90% chance for at least inch of snow in Louisville Friday and a 10% chance for at least 4 inches. Evan Webb, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said 4 inches of snow looks like the “worst case scenario” for the city.

At least 4 inches of snow in the forecast is typically needed for the weather service to issue a winter storm watch or warning, Webb said, adding it appears to be “relatively likely” a winter storm warning will eventually be in effect for the area currently under the watch.

“If the trends in the data change, we could expand the winter storm watch a little further north if we need to,” Webb said.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning will be very cold in Louisville and there is a chance wind chills could plummet below zero, Webb said. However, cloud cover could serve as an “insulating blanket,” keeping the air temperature a little higher than it would be if it was a clear night.

If wind chills were to fall to -5 degrees or below, the NWS would issue a cold weather advisory.

“Prepare for round two, unfortunately,” Webb said. “It looks like the snow amounts will be quite a bit less than what we saw with the last storm. Certainly with some additional snow accumulations, it’s always good to be prepared.”

More: Will Louisville get more snow this week? NWS predicts more cold weather in Kentucky

Wednesday

Chance of flurries. Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 25. Calm winds from the west around 6 mph in the afternoon.

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 4. West winds of 5 mph become calm.

Thursday

Sunny and cold, with a high near 28.

Thursday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 14 and calm winds.

Friday

A 90% chance of snow showers, mainly after 1 p.m. A high near 29 with south winds of around 5 mph Friday afternoon. New snowfall amounts of between 1-2 inches is possible.

Friday Night

A 70% chance of snow showers, mainly before 1 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 23.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 31.

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low near 15.

Sunday

Partly sunny, with a high near 35.

Sunday Night

A 20% chance of snow showers after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low near 27.

Reporter Marina Johnson contributed.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

Life comes at you fast in the SEC.

One game, you look like a Final Four team. The next game, you look like a team that’s going to go 15 rounds in a second-round game.

Tuesday night, the Kentucky Wildcats went down to Georgia and got stomped, 82-69. This Bulldogs team is good, and they very well could wind up in the NCAA Tournament, but Kentucky was outplayed physically and lacked the toughness to overcome a 13-point halftime deficit.

After the game, senior forward Andrew Carr said Kentucky needs to be more physical, even downright nasty.

Georgia out-rebounded Kentucky 41-34, including 13-1 on the offensive glass. Yikes.

Kentucky was held to 37.5% shooting from the field, including 6-25 from three-point range. The Wildcats tried multiple times in the second half to mount a comeback, but they just could not get over the hump Georgia presented.

This is the SEC this year. For every game, you had better be ready to go 15 rounds and physically go toe-to-toe. Otherwise, nights like tonight at Georgia are going to happen more often than you’d like them to.

Kentucky is back in action Saturday night at No. 14 Mississippi State. Tipoff is at 8:30 PM ET on the SEC Network.

The Kentucky Wildcats are set for a road matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs. Game time is set for 7 PM ET on the SEC Network. You can watch the game online using ESPN+ or tune in via radio stream through the UK Sports Network.

Fresh off another top-10 win over Florida, Kentucky now heads into its first road game of the SEC season, which is also another Quad I opportunity vs. a solid Georgia team that’s 12-2 with wins over Notre Dame (home), St. John’s (neutral), and Georgia Tech (away).

Kentucky technically has a road win over Gonzaga, but that’s considered to be a semi-away game (at least via KenPom), so this is a chance for the Cats to notch their first true road win of the season.

Koby Brea was initially listed as questionable to play tonight, but it looks like he’ll give it a go in Athens.

Pregame Reading

Let’s Go CATS!