Much needed rain on tap heading into Tuesday

After a beautiful first weekend of October across Central and Eastern Kentucky with sunshine and highs in the low 80s, clouds thickened up to begin the week on Monday signaling some chances on the way. With moisture streaming northward from the Gulf along with an inverted trough over the region, a few scattered showers developed out west, slowly moving eastward during the day with most of the showers confined to the Bluegrass Region. This will be a prelude of things to come into Tuesday. Afternoon highs were held in check a bit by the cloud cover in Central Kentucky with most locations only reaching the mid-70s, while the south and east spiked up into the low-80s with more sunshine around.

You should need the umbrella for a change of pace on Tuesday as a cold front drops through the Ohio Valley bringing some legitimate rain chances to the commonwealth. Look for occasional showers and a damp day overall thanks to plenty of moisture in place ahead of the front. Much of the data is indicating widespread 1″ rainfall totals with some localized spots seeing 2″-3″ or more, which could lead to some minor high water issues in some areas. on the plus side, this is definitely good news given the lack of rain over the last week or so and the overall dry pattern that we typically see this time of the year so it’s good to get some moisture in the ground.

Scattered showers should hang around into Wednesday morning before tapering off from northwest to southeast as cooler and drier air filter into the region. Even with a return of some sunshine by the afternoon hours, a brisk northeast wind will help to hold temperatures down as afternoon highs only reach the upper 60s which is a few degrees below average for this time in October. Thursday looks to be a pleasant fall day with lots of sunshine and definitely an October-like feel to the air. Temperatures look cool to start with morning lows in the 40s before afternoon highs slowly climb back into the upper 60s despite all the sunshine expected across the commonwealth.

Our quiet October pattern should return heading toward the middle part of the month for another extended stretch of tranquil weather across the Ohio Valley. The weather should cooperate for any outdoor activities including high school football on Friday night along with all the fall festivals going on this weekend. Looks for chilly mornings with temperatures in the upper 40s with pleasant afternoons as high remain in the low to mid-70s to go along with plenty of sunshine so the timing looks good with this type of set-up in place for the weekend.