Delightful fall weather continues to close out the week

It was a beautiful Thursday across Central and Eastern Kentucky as high pressure drifted across the Great Lakes providing a nearly perfect fall day for the region. After a chilly start with temperatures dipping down into the mid to upper 40s, we enjoyed abundant sunshine and pleasant fall-like temperatures as afternoon highs only topped out in the mid to upper-60s. One contributing factor was a persistent and cool northeast wind, which really helped to hold temperatures in check along with pushing additional dry air into the commonwealth. This quiet pattern should stay in place in the coming days with some nice weather on tap.

The aforementioned northeast wind will finally relax a bit into early Friday, allowing for some good radiational cooling so we should be set-up for our coldest morning of the season to begin Friday. With clear skies and lighter winds, temperatures should dip down into the upper 30s to low-40s with a few of the sheltered valleys even looking at some patchy frost thanks to the chilly air. Once the sun comes up, it should be another banner day with sunshine and a nice recovery in temperatures. Even though winds will be lighter, the general flow will be out of the south, so look for afternoon highs to climb back into the low-70s. It should actually feel like football weather for all the high school games Friday evening so enjoy the pleasant conditions if you are heading out to a game.

The weekend looks pretty nice overall although we could be dealing with some scattered clouds/filtered sunshine at times. An area of low pressure to our northeast could throw some high level cloudiness down our way and some of the data has a bit of cloudiness in play as a weak front washes out to the northwest. That should really be the only blemish to what will be a comfortable October weekend across the region with lows in the mid to upper 40s and afternoon highs in the low to mid-70s. With plenty of fall festivals in full swing, make some plans and enjoy the pleasant weather across the commonwealth.

Heading into early next week, a frontal boundary off to our northwest may keep a few clouds in play on Monday but there will be plenty of sunshine around the area as well. Temperatures should begin to moderate slightly with afternoon highs working back into the mid-70s, which is a few degrees above average for the middle part of October. We could even see a few spots trying to climb back into the upper 70s to near 80 degrees. Fortunately we saw the heavier rain earlier this week to help alleviate the drought conditions as the extended forecast has very little in the way of rain chances on the horizon.