Unsettled and active weather pattern stays in place

It’s been a pretty typical early July week of weather across Central and Eastern Kentucky with warm and humid conditions along with scattered storms popping up through the day and we saw more of the same on Thursday. With some upper level energy slowly creeping east of the Ohio Valley combined with all the moisture in place, morning low clouds and fog gave way to a few storms through the afternoon which produced some locally heavy rain yet again. Those areas that didn’t see any rainfall enjoyed a mix of clouds and sunshine as afternoon highs into the mid to upper 80s with plenty of humidity.

The concern for additional flooding is increasing as we head into Friday thanks to a legitimate frontal boundary off to our northwest that is expected to creep southward through the Ohio Valley into the early part of the weekend. With lots of available moisture in place, multiple rounds of showers and storms look likely with heavy rain possible as these move through. Given the already saturated ground and the potential with several more inches of rain, the flash flood threat looks to increase so a Flood Watch is out for the entire area through 2 AM Sunday morning.

As the front drifts to the south and a wave of low pressure slides along it, the rain and storms should continue as we kick off the weekend so you’ll need to keep the rain gear handy and you may have to adjust any outdoor plans scheduled. Given that some of the data is showing 1″-3″ of possible rainfall with locally higher totals, you’ll need to remain weather aware especially if you live in a flood prone area! Be prepared to move to higher ground if necessary and of course never drive through a flooded roadway, even if the water doesn’t appear to be that deep. The front should push far enough to the south to lessen the overall rain chances on Sunday but a few scattered showers will still be possible. With all the clouds and rain around, temperatures will be held in check with afternoon highs into the low to mid-80s.

Heading into early next week some lingering moisture will hang around with the boundary laying just to our south so a few isolated showers can’t be ruled out but most areas should be mainly dry at this point. An area of high pressure will push in by Tuesday allowing us a window of much needed dry weather for a few days into the middle part of next week. With some sunshine returning, temperatures should begin to climb back into the upper 80s to around 90 degrees, which is right where we should land for the middle part of July for afternoon highs.