Natural fireworks from Mother Nature this 4th of July

It was definitely hot as a firecracker for the 4th of July on Thursday across Central and Eastern Kentucky with upper 80s and low 90s for afternoon highs. Add in ridiculously high humidity (dewpoints in the mid to upper 70s…which is rare) and heat indices surged into the low 100s across much of the area so it was super uncomfortable for outdoor Independence Day festivities. With a slow moving warm front to our northwest and lots of available moisture, heavy rain producing thunderstorms fired up during the afternoon hours with a few of those producing some gusty winds and even a few severe thunderstorm warnings. Folks definitely had to keep an eye on the weather throughout the day.

Heading into Friday our unsettled and stormy pattern will hang on for one more day as a cold front eventually sweeps through the region by the end of the day. It will be another warm and humid day which will help fuel additional showers and thunderstorms. While the overall coverage shouldn’t be widespread we could see some localized heavy downpours and gusty winds with any storms that develop. There is a low end Level 1 severe risk (out of 5) for Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky, basically east and southeast of Lexington with damaging winds being the primary threat.

The frontal boundary will do a great job of sweeping out a good chunk of the high humidity as it moves eastward setting us up for a tremendous second half of the holiday weekend. The “muggy-cast” takes a huge dip for Saturday and Sunday and most importantly we should be rain-free with sunshine and highs in the mid to upper-80s. I suppose this is the payoff for having to deal with the stormy and unsettled weather to begin the holiday weekend.

Looking ahead to early next week we should shift back into a more typical early to mid-July pattern with warm and muggy conditions returning. Monday could be a touch hot with highs in the low-90s and just a few isolated storms. With more moisture and clouds around heading into the mid-week, daily storm chances are on tap with highs in the upper-80s. We’ll have to see if some of the remnant moisture from Beryl funnels our way during that window. The latest drought monitor has much of the Bluegrass Region in the “abnormally dry” range so we could use some additional rainfall.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
THURSDAY NIGHT: Warm and muggy with isolated storms. Lows in the mid-70s.
FRIDAY: Humid with more storms. Highs in the upper-80s.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Drying out, more comfortable. Lows in the mid-60s.