Delightful weather on tap to close out July

After an active start to the week across Central and Eastern Kentucky with multiple rounds of rain and storms, some of which produced some severe weather, it was a much quieter mid-week around the area. With high pressure building into the Ohio Valley we enjoyed plenty of sunshine (although it was a bit hazy with some elevated wildfire smoke mainly west of Lexington) and comfortable temperatures as afternoon highs reached the low-80s. Most notably the oppressive humidity we’ve dealt with lately was swept out of the commonwealth so that upped the comfort factor if you were outside for any length of time.

It looks like a banner day of weather for late July on Thursday as high pressure continues to dominate. With plenty of sunshine along with a north wind pushing drier air into the commonwealth, it should be a great day to be out and about with afternoon highs only reaching the low-80s along with the continued break for the typical higher humidity we see this time of the year. The bottom line is you’ll want to spend some time outside if you can and soak up the unseasonably pleasant weather while it lasts.

We’ll wrap up July on a dry and comfortable note as we close out the week on Friday. High pressure should hang on for one more day, providing additional sunshine, comfortable humidity levels and afternoon highs in the mid-80s, which is a few degrees below average for the final day of July. Unfortunately the nice weather will come to an end as we kick off the weekend thanks to a wave of low pressure that is forecast to move in from the northwest. As moisture returns from the south and the low moves into the region, scattered showers and storms will return to kick off August on Saturday. Of course the timing could be better with it being a summer weekend and at this point it appears that outdoor plans could be impacted so you’ll need to check the weather before you head out.

The wave of low pressure will slowly move through and weaken a bit on Sunday so additional showers and storms will still be on the table for the second half of the upcoming weekend. The overall coverage should be a bit less than Saturday but there will still be some rain to dodge from time to time. With the clouds and showers around, afternoon highs should stick into the low-80s and it will feel more like early August as far as humidity is concerned as the muggy air will be back in place. Heading into next week it looks like a standard pattern for early August with a few mainly afternoon and early evening storms on the table driven by the afternoon warmth as afternoon highs climb back into the mid-80s.