Damp and unsettled weather hangs tough into the late week

It was another damp and dreary Wednesday weather-wise across Central and Eastern Kentucky especially during the mornings hours as a solid shield of moderate to occasionally heavy rain moved through from south to north. We did catch a break into the afternoon hours as the rain ended and we even saw a few breaks in the cloud cover allowing temperatures to overachieve in a few locations as afternoon highs reached the upper 60s and low 70s. Don’t put away the rain gear just yet as the unsettled weather pattern stays put the rest of the week.

On Thursday a strong wave of low pressure will spin right through the heart of the Ohio Valley keeping rain and storms in the forecast. Expect some heavier downpours at times and I think we’ll see a better chance for organized thunderstorms thanks to the low moving through. The wind fields with this system will be higher so it won’t take much to get some gusty winds to the surface so expect occasional gusts 35 to 40 miles per hour even away from any thunderstorms. Temperatures should spike up into the low 70s early in the afternoon before taking a drop late in the day as the front rotates through the commonwealth.

Speaking of storms, the Storm Prediction Center still has much of the area in a Level 2 Severe Risk (out of 5) for Thursday but it may be a small window to get the storms cranking as this system sweeps through. Right now it is mainly a damaging wind threat with the greater tornado threat being from extreme northeast Kentucky around Ashland north through Eastern Ohio and Western West Virginia where the tornado threat is more elevated. Regardless you’ll want to keep an eye on the weather heading into Thursday. Rainfall totals could be pretty decent as well with over 1″ totals possible by the time the heavies stuff moves out Thursday night.

With a northwest flow bringing in cooler air and a weak trough interacting with some lingering moisture, Friday looks like a blustery and raw day with a few scattered showers and afternoon highs only in the low to mid 50s so keep that in mind! The good news for the weekend is that we should dry out and warm up Saturday as more of a southwest flow picks up with high pressure to our south. This will push afternoon highs back to around the 70 degree mark with some sunshine so it should be a pleasant start to the weekend.

A lot of the data is trending warmer for the early part of next week with just a few low end, isolated storm chances. With a weak boundary off to our northwest we could see a spotty storm on Monday with an overall better chance a bit later in the week. The bigger story will be afternoon highs making a run into the mid to upper 70s so it will definitely feel like springtime here in the commonwealth.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Scattered rain and storms. Lows in the upper-50s and 60 degrees.
THURSDAY: Breezy with more rain and storms. Highs in the low-70s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Breezy and cooler, a few showers. Lows in the mid-40s.