More storm chances Thursday with a brief break in sight
A weak cold front dropping in will keep rain and storms around into the late week before some drier air arrives Friday
It’s definitely been a fairly consistent weather pattern with the same old script the last several days across Central and Eastern Kentucky, and Wednesday was no exception. Areas that received rain on Tuesday saw some morning fog, otherwise it was mainly cloudy into the afternoon hours (which hasn’t been a bad thing given that it has kept that hot air away) followed by a few isolated to scattered storms popping up with all the warmth and moisture around the deeper we got into the afternoon. Temperatures were still a little below the curve for late July with highs in the low to mid-80s and of course the humidity made it feel a touch warmer. This pattern hangs for one more day before we see a brief shift.
A weak cold front will drop through the Ohio Valley and into the commonwealth on Thursday keeping the chances for showers and storms around. Looking at the latest data it looks less likely we’ll see widespread rainfall and it will be more hit and miss variety showers and storms like we’ve seen each day this week./ Afternoon highs will be in the mid-80s once again and any storm that does develop has the potential of producing some localized heavy rainfall given all the moisture around and the slow movement of the storms.
The burning question much of the week has been how far south the frontal boundary would drop before putting on the brakes and stalling out? It still appears that much of the area will see some drier air working in for Friday and Saturday and the “muggy-cast” is showing a dip in humidity levels here in the Bluegrass and points to the north. So I think there will be a bit of a gradient with rain chances as our far southern counties along the Tennessee border hang on to an isolated storm chance during the afternoon hours especially on Saturday as what is left of the boundary will be just to our south. Of course the farther north you go, the better chances it stays dry through Saturday with a brief from the muggy air. Afternoon highs should be right around average through the weekend with readings topping out in the upper 80s to around 90 degrees.
As high pressure to our north drifts toward the eastern seaboard the door should be wide open for the return flow from the south to bring additional moisture back into the commonwealth beginning on Sunday and ramping up a bit more for Monday and Tuesday. With very warm temperatures and higher humidity levels this should help trigger more substantial rain chances (hopefully) for early next week. Even though isolated spots throughout this week have seen some decent rain totals it has been very localized so we could use more consistent, widespread rain across the board to lessen the dry/drought conditions through parts of the commonwealth.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Warm and muggy with isolated storms. Lows in the upper-60s.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy, scattered storms. Highs in the mid-80s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Early storms then drying out. Lows in the upper-60s.
