Feeling more like summer as we kick off April

Look for a few scattered showers and storms from time to time

1 hour ago

T.G. Shuck,

We finished off the month of March in style on Tuesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky with another unseasonably warm day across the board. With a breezy southwest wind gusting to around 30 miles per hour along with a mix of clouds and sunshine, afternoon highs surged into the upper 70s and low 80s, giving that summer-like feel once again. In fact we danced around record high temperatures in some spots, something we’ve done on several occasions the last few weeks. As a whole it was a pretty mild March with Lexington seeing at least 70 degrees for an afternoon highs 14 of the 31 days during the month, which put the average high for all the days of the month a full 10 degrees above what we typically see. Fortunately we’ll see more of the same in the coming days.

With a stalled boundary stretched out across the Ohio Valley and some moisture being pulled in with the southwest wind, a few scattered showers and storms will be back on the table. With the warmth and moisture around, a few of the storms could potentially produce some gusty winds and hail so the Storm Prediction Center had painted parts of Central and Northern Kentucky in a low-end Level 1 severe risk (out of 5) for Wednesday afternoon. The good news is that we aren’t looking at a wash-out by any means, but you’ll need to take the rain gear along just to be on the safe side. The bigger story will be the unseasonably warm temperatures that will remain in place. The steady southwest wind combined with a bit of sunshine will help push afternoon highs into the low-80s, which is a solid 20 degrees above average for early April.

The frontal system will jog a bit farther to the north on Thursday, dropping our scattered shower and storm chances to more the isolated variety, and anything that does pop should mainly be during the peak warming of the late afternoon hours. Overall it should be dry in most locations as afternoon highs climb back into the low-80s. The summer warmth looks to roll along as we head into Good Friday, which is great news for the opening of the spring meet at Keeneland. Much of the data is indicating a wave of energy riding along the front to our north, which should ramp back up the scattered shower and storm chances so be prepared for a little wet weather on occasion as we close out the week.

Heading into Easter weekend an area of low pressure will drag a trailing cold front into the Ohio Valley, which will bring an end to the extended summer-like weather we are expecting in the coming days. It will be another unseasonably warm day with afternoon highs climbing back up to around the 80 degree mark in most locations. Fortunately the day doesn’t look like a total wash-out with some dry times expected, however the organized rain and storm chances will increase toward the late afternoon and evening hours as the cold front moves in. A few showers may linger into Easter Sunday so it could be a bit damp for sunrise services before the rain chances taper off. Cooler air will filter in behind the front so you’ll definitely feel the difference on Sunday with afternoon highs backing down into the upper 50s. Dry air looks to work back in early next week as high temperatures stay pretty close to average for early April.