Pleasant weather Thursday but a solid warm-up is on the horizon
Afternoon highs should be more summer-like this weekend with highs in the 80s possible.
After a few scattered showers as expected during the early morning hours of Wednesday, it turned out to be a pretty nice mid-week across Central and Eastern Kentucky. Under a mix of clouds and sunshine, afternoon highs recovered nicely into the mid to upper 60s despite a northwest wind ushering in some slightly cooler air. With some of that low level moisture hanging on early, we did have some patchy dense fog in spots but it burnt off fairly quickly through the morning hours.
Our tranquil weather pattern is set to continue on Thursday as an area of high pressure to our northeast keeps the sunshine and dry weather around. It looks pretty chilly to start the day by late April standards with early morning lows dipping into the mid to upper 30s so some of the sheltered valley areas could see some patchy frost. We could also be in line for some additional patchy fog with the recent rainfall so just plan ahead for the Thursday morning commute. Once the sun comes up any fog should dissipated with another nice late April day on tap. Winds will be out of the northeast through the afternoon, which has a tendency to have a cooling effect and keep temperatures down a bit so even with plenty of sunshine around I think mid-60s will do it for afternoon highs.
Bigger chances are on the way for Friday and the upcoming weekend as a frontal boundary arcs through the commonwealth from the southwest. With moisture riding up and over the boundary we should see a few scattered showers with a rumble of thunder not off the table. Temperatures will be a touch warmer into the low 70s for highs and this will be a prelude of things to come for the weekend. The warm front will be the leading edge of summer-like temperatures which will move in just in time for the weekend. Expect highs in the low 80s with breezy conditions as winds gusts 30 to 40 miles per hour at times. Any rain chances will be isolated at best with just a stray storm possible with the afternoon warmth as the concentration of organized storms stays to our west.
A stalled out frontal boundary over the Central Plains (which may cause several days of severe storm potential in the Central U.S.) will eventually get a push eastward into early next week so our rain and storm chances will pick up by Monday. Right now it looks as if the front will arrive in a weakened state so some general rain and a few storms are what is on the table at this point. Temperatures should remain on the unseasonably warm side even with the scattered showers around as we’ll see no big push of cooler air as we kick off May and head toward Derby weekend!
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and chilly. Lows in the upper-30s.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, still pleasant. Highs in the mid-60s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: A few clouds and cool. Lows in the mid-40s.
