Drier air is finally set to return late week

The unsettled weather pattern that we’ve been dealing with over the last week or so across Central and Eastern Kentucky continued on Wednesday. The combination of a stalled out front over the region along with plenty of Gulf moisture streaming up from the south set the stage for more scattered showers and storms across the area. While the activity wasn’t as widespread as what we had on Tuesday, we did see some pockets of heavy rainfall, which once again caused a few brief flooding issues given the significant amounts of rain we’ve seen over the last 7 days area-wide. It definitely felt like summer with highs in the low-80s and humid conditions persisting.

Thursday should bring the beginning of a shift in our overall weather pattern as a weak front drops in from the north, helping to sweep the stalled out boundary sitting over the Ohio Valley out of the area. As high pressure builds into the Great Lakes, drier air will push southward, bringing an end to the rain chances in most locations. Do watch out for some patchy, dense fog during the morning hours given all the rainfall we’ve seen lately. With more sunshine around and a pleasant northeast breeze in place, afternoon highs should be right around the 80 degree mark. There is a chance for a stray shower across our far southern counties as some of the moisture holds on there but most locations should enjoy a dry day.

As the area of high pressure settles into the Ohio Valley on Friday, it should be a very pleasant finish to the week across Central and Eastern Kentucky. Look for a mix of clouds and sunshine around and with the persistent northeast breeze bringing slightly “milder” air into the commonwealth, temperatures may back off a few degrees but will still be nice as afternoon highs reach the upper 70s. A fast moving and fairly weak cold front will clip the region heading into the weekend. This system won’t have a lot of moisture to work with and it now appears that most spots will end up with a dry day from start to finish so you should be good to go with any outdoor plans for Saturday as temperatures top out in the upper 70s.

We’ll close out the month of May and a good note Sunday with another area of high pressure drifting into the Great Lakes behind the departing boundary. This will keep essentially the same set-up in place as a northeast wind ushers in some pleasant air. With abundant sunshine around, afternoon highs will reach the mid-70s, which is a few degrees below average for the final day of May but still quite nice. Kicking off June on Monday, the dry and tranquil weather looks to stay in place and the first few days of the new month should be pretty comfortable as afternoon highs remain in the mid to upper 70s along with less humid conditions.