Unsettled weather hangs tough into the holiday weekend

It was another damp and dreary day to finish out the week on Friday across Central and Eastern Kentucky as a stalled out boundary to our south slowly worked northward into the Ohio Valley. With plenty of moisture riding up and over the front, we saw more widespread light to moderate rain, which is exactly what we needed given the dry conditions across the commonwealth. A few scattered storms developed through the afternoon as the warm front arced through with localized heavy rain and some gusty winds. Temperatures improved slightly but were still below average as highs snuck back into the low-70s in most spots.

Kicking off the holiday weekend into early Saturday we could see some minor flooding issues, especially across the northeastern part of the state due to the recent rains and some locally heavy downpours expected. As a result, a Flood Watch is out for areas from Lexington to the northeast until 5am Saturday morning. The remainder of the day should featured more scattered showers and storms but at this point it’s not looking like a complete wash-out, which is good news given all the outdoor activities going on. You’ll need to check the weather closely and adjust accordingly if needed with the scattered nature of the rain and storms. Afternoon highs should reach upper 70s and it will feel a bit on the muggy side.

Look for more of the same heading into Sunday and Memorial Day as an upper level low to our southwest feeds moisture into the region and that interacts with the stalled out boundary over the Ohio Valley. This will keep occasional rain and storms in the picture with some locally heavy rainfall possible. Fortunately it doesn’t appear to be an all day rain either day, but there will be waves of showers and storms so that will likely impact any holiday plans you have going on outdoors. Pulling the positive out of a wet and stormy scenario, we will continue to see some very beneficial rains, which should hopefully put a nice dent in the on-going spring drought across the commonwealth. Afternoon highs will continue to be in the upper 70s to low 80s depending on the coverage of clouds and showers.

With the stalled out boundary still in place over the Ohio Valley and waves of energy riding along it, the daily rain chances will hang around through the middle part of next week so you’ll need to keep the rain gear handy during that window. The best chances for rain will be during the peak warmth of the afternoon, with less coverage during the overnight hours. It does appear that the boundary will eventually dissipate later next week and allow some drier air to return to the region by next Friday which will finally bring the rain chances to an end. Daily highs will hover around the 80 degree mark mid-week before climbing into the low to mid-80s as things start to dry out a bit.