Awesome mid-October weather to finish the week

It was a picture perfect Thursday across Central and Eastern Kentucky with lots of sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures for the middle part of October. With a warm front camped out across the central part of the Ohio Valley, the commonwealth sat in a perfect spot to soak up the warmth pushed northward on the heels of a south breeze. Afternoon highs reach the upper 70s to around 80 degrees here in the Bluegrass with mid to upper 70s across the south and east.

We’ll enjoy another late summer-like day on Friday across the region before we get a bit of a reality check for the upcoming weekend. With a cold front approaching from the west, a south to southeast breeze along with additional sunshine will push afternoon highs again into the upper 70s and low 80s, a good 10 degrees above average for this time of the year. Our rain chances shouldn’t arrive until late evening or even after Midnight into early Saturday so high school football games shouldn’t have any issues. The bottom line is get out and enjoy tomorrow while it lasts!

This weekend will be a different story as the cold front will be moving to our east, bringing cooler air and scattered showers to the area in it’s wake. While temperatures shouldn’t be overly cool with highs in the mid to upper 60s, it will be a bit damp from time to time Saturday plus winds will be quite breezy so you’ll definitely feel the difference from Friday. With some upper level energy hanging back into the Ohio Valley on Sunday, it looks dreary and cool to close out the weekend. Afternoon highs will struggle to reach the mid-50s along with a few passing showers so we’ll feel more like mid-November into early next week.

Looking ahead to Saturday night with Kentucky’s big game against Missouri at Kroger Field with a 7:30pm kick-off, the forecast hasn’t changed for that time period. You’ll want to bring along the rain gear as a few showers will be possible in addition to some warm gear as temperatures will be dropping into the upper 50s by the end of the game. Add some gusty winds to the mix and that will make it feel even cooler so definitely head to the stadium prepared for some legitimate “fall football weather”.

The latest Drought Monitor out Thursday shows no big major changes to our drought situation with just a small expansion of the moderate drought farther north and east with Southern Kentucky abnormally dry and the far southeastern part of the state in decent shape. Unfortunately the amount of rain we are expecting through the weekend and into early next week is pretty light overall with most locations seeing less than a half inch stretched out over a 3 to 5 day period.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
THURSDAY NIGHT: Clear skies and pleasant. Lows in the mid-50s.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny, dry and warm . Highs in the upper 70s and low-80s.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Breezy with showers and some thunder. Lows in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees.