Heavy rain, gusty winds, and strong storms on the way Friday

After record breaking warmth on Wednesday showers and thunderstorms moved through the region overnight. Those showers have exited giving way to quiet conditions for the daytime hours on Thursday. Key word there is “daytime”, because heavy rain will move through the region late tonight into your Friday morning. Friday shaping up to be a very active day weather-wise.

The weather-impacts will come in three rounds.
Round 1: Heavy rain with a flood potential.
Round 2: Line of strong-to-severe storms and significant wind gusts.
Round 3: Lingering gusty winds.

Heavy rain moves in overnight Thursday night into Friday morning, followed by round of severe weather and gusty winds, before we end the day with gusty winds after the storms move through. A Flood Watch is in effect for many counties in the northern half of the viewing area. 2-3 inches of rain is in forecast, with locally higher amounts possible closer to the Ohio River.

There will likely be a bit of break after the early morning heavy rain. This will allow for a line of strong-to-severe thunderstorms to strengthen as it travels west to east across Kentucky. Damaging wind gusts will be the primary threat with this line of storms. Isolated tornadoes will also be possible thanks to the rotating nature of the storms.

Wind gusts will also pick up outside of the storms. Wind gusts upwards of 50-60+ mph will be likely during afternoon. A High Wind Watch has been issued for south-central and southeastern Kentucky, while a Wind Advisory has been issued for the rest of the viewing area.

Make sure you have multiple ways to receive weather alerts. Also don’t forget about the flooding threat early Friday morning. Flooding could start before sunrise making it even more difficult to see flash flooding. Remember the saying, “Turn around, don’t drown” when you approach a flooded roadway.

Gusty winds will continue after the storms pass. We could still see gusts as high as 40-50 MPH through the early evening. As the system exits Friday evening, temperatures will drop by Saturday morning. The snowflake chance that appeared likely a few days ago has diminished for Saturday morning. The weekend forecast continues to improve as well. After a cooler day in the 40s and low 50s on Saturday, temps will climb near 60 on Sunday.

Stay with the ABC 36 Storm Team for more updates.