Heat and humidity hang tough to close out July

It was a super muggy Tuesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky with dewpoints and humidity levels making it feel more like South Florida. After an early morning round of storms with heavy rain and lots of lightning, we had a chance to heat up into the upper 80s and low 90s across the area and with so much moisture around our “feel-like” temperatures surged to around the 100 degree mark! A stubborn and long-lived complex of thunderstorms held together all the way from Central Illinois and moved through West Central  and Southern Kentucky mid-afternoon prompting a number of Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and causing some tree and power line damage along the path. This unsettled and stormy pattern will be sticking around as we close out July and kick off the new month.

The conveyor belt of thunderstorm complexes/clusters looks to continue into Wednesday with another round of heavy rain and storm possible, primarily for areas to the west and southwest of the Bluegrass Region. The Storm Prediction Center paints a Level 2 severe risk (out of 5) for Southwestern Kentucky with a Level 1 risk farther north into the Bluegrass Region. Another round of thunderstorms may roll over the same area impacted by the afternoon heavy rain on Tuesday so the concern is there for the potential of some flash flooding.

Closing out July it looks hot and very humid again with additional rain and storms possible across the commonwealth. Afternoon highs should reach the low 90s in most spots but could be impacted by any storms and/or debris clouds that stick around but it will be very muggy yet again. The strong to severe storm threat still remains on the table for both Wednesday and Thursday but remember with this type of pattern that the timing of placement of these thunderstorm clusters can be challenging and tricky to say the least.

Our hottest day of this week should be the first day of August with readings expected to climb into the mid-90s for afternoon highs to go along with the summer sunshine. Add in humidity levels still on the high side and we could see heat index values over 100 degrees in some places so take the proper precautions if you have to be outdoors. More storms will be possible Friday and to begin the weekend as a frontal boundary finally moves through the region and breaks this pattern. We should catch a break from the extremely muggy air and it looks dry to close out the weekend and kick off next week even though we’ll stay hot with highs in the low 90s.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
TUESDAY NIGHT: Muggy with scattered storms, especially south and west. Lows in the low-70s.
WEDNESDAY: Hot and humid with a few storms. Highs in the low-90s.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Warm and muggy, more scattered storms. Lows in the mid-70s.