A bit of a roller coaster ride with our weather over Memorial Day weekend

We enjoyed a nice finish to the week Friday across Central and Eastern Kentucky, which served as “getaway day” for many folks heading into the long holiday weekend. With cool high pressure over the Great Lakes, we enjoyed more sunshine, a breezy northeast wind and comfortable afternoon highs into the mid-70s. While the bulk of the upcoming holiday weekend is looking good weather-wise, Mother Nature may create a major speed bump in the middle of it on Sunday. Our weather has been fantastic of late, but by Sunday it won’t be great weather to be out on the lake and rather more fitting for ducks…which makes the picture below very ironic!

Saturday should remain dry and pleasant as high pressure gives way and the much advertised area of low pressure along the East coast begins to move northward. We should start out with mostly sunny skies but as the day wears on some mid to high level cloud cover will increase, which should slow our warm-up. The clouds coupled with an east wind should hold afternoon highs into the low and mid-70s, but it will still be a nice start to the holiday weekend.

By Saturday night and into Sunday, the are of low pressure will be close enough to throw some Atlantic moisture into Central and Eastern Kentucky as it moves along the Carolina coast. The end result will be a damp and unseasonably cool day! Underneath the thick clouds and occasional light rain, afternoon highs will struggle to reach the low and mid-60s here in Central Kentucky and points south and east of Lexington may not even make it out of the 50s Sunday afternoon. So the bottom line is you need to be prepared for a chilly day by late May standards on Sunday.

Luckily the low will pull eastward enough to end our rain chances heading into Memorial Day, while allowing more of a south flow to kick in. As a result we should enjoy a mix of clouds and and sunshine but more importantly push afternoon highs into the mid to upper 70s, which is right around average for the final weekend of May.

The big story next week as we wrap up May and head into June will be our first legitimate shot of summer warmth/heat and some humidity. A big ridge of warmer air will slide into the Eastern U.S. so temperatures will climb into the mid-80s to close out May on Wednesday before surging into the upper 80s for the first few days of June. With muggy air returning, a few isolated storms will be possible with the heating of the day so be prepared for that. Have a safe holiday weekend!

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
FRIDAY NIGHT: Mainly clear and quiet. Lows in the low-50s.
SATURDAY: Partly sunny and pleasant. Highs in the mid-70s.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy with showers. Lows in the mid-50s.