Cloudy and dreary weather to kick off the week
It felt more like mid-November on Monday but a brief warm-up is on the way by Wednesday
It wasn’t the best way to kick off the week weather-wise across Central and Eastern Kentucky Monday as an upper level system lingered in the Ohio Valley, providing plenty of low cloud cover, a few spotty showers and afternoon highs struggling to reach the low-50s. Those are the type of temperatures were are used to seeing in mid-November with daily highs so it definitely felt like the heart of fall to begin the week. Despite the cloud cover and dreary conditions the last few days, the fall colors are really beginning to pop and some sunshine should really help the beauty of it all heading into the mid-week.
The upper level system will finally pull out of the area on Tuesday but the biggest question will be how quickly the low clouds will scour out and the sunshine return? In these set-ups throughout the fall season, the low level moisture and low clouds can be really tough to break apart. Even though high pressure will try to know nose in from the northwest, the clouds may be very stubborn to diminish. The timing of the clouds breaking up will have a significant impact on where afternoon highs end up. At this point highs should be right around 60 degrees with a bit of sunshine in the afternoon but if the clouds hold longer temperatures won’t may it out of the 50s yet could overachieve if we see earlier sunshine.
Our best day of the week will be on Wednesday as we will be under the influence of high pressure to our north. With some sunshine back in play, afternoon highs should return to the upper 60s to around 70 degrees as a southwest wind picks up. This will open the door for our next storm system to dive into the Ohio Valley on Thursday and Friday. You’ll definitely need the rain gear with occasional showers expected and afternoon highs backing down into the mid-60s.
Once the main system exits the area into the weekend, a secondary wave of low pressure will follow suit and drop across the Ohio Valley keeping a few scattered showers in the forecast. While the timing could be better relative to the weekend our rainfall deficit continues with much of Central Kentucky still in the moderate drought per the latest Drought Monitor. Much of the data is showing some decent rainfall totals over a 2 to 3 day stretch late this week with the highest totals in Eastern Kentucky with over a half inch totals. Not a drought buster but we’ll take what we can get.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy and chilly. Lows in the mid-40s.
TUESDAY: Scattered clouds, still cool. Highs in the upper 50s to low 60s.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Clearing out and quiet. Lows in the low-40s.
