Plenty of wet weather and mild air on the way
We've done a complete 180 dgree turn with our weather pattern from frigid to mild in just a few days.
Despite the clouds thickening up and a few rain showers eventually working into Central and Eastern Kentucky Tuesday, temperatures felt pretty nice across the board especially considering we are just a few days removed from the deep freeze this past weekend. With rain arriving early afternoon in the Bluegrass, temperatures topped out into the mid to upper 40s with our southern counties surging into mid-50s in most locations. This really helped put the snow melt in full swing and while the snow will fade away quickly, don’t forget that many of the area lakes and ponds were have a frozen layer of ice on them for a bit including some of the larger ones as shown on Lake Cumberland from the air on Monday.
The big story through the mid and into the late week will be the solid rain chances and the unseasonably mild temperatures for late January. You’ll need to have the rain gear along as several waves of energy will slide through the region keeping consistent rain chances in play through Thursday. Some of the rain could be moderate to heavy at times but despite the wet and gloomy weather, a breezy south wind will help push afternoon highs all the way into the mid to upper 50s, a solid 15 to 20 degrees above average for this time of the year.
As a frontal boundary approaches from the west on Thursday the rain will continue along with additional mild air. In fact Thursday should be out warmest day with afternoon highs into the low 60s before the front moves through thanks to the strong south wind. We should get a much needed break in the rain for Friday so that looks to be our best day this week as temperatures drop back a bit but remain pleasant with highs reaching the mid-50s to close out the week.
Given all the recent snow melting away and the solid rainfall totals expected, we’ll have to watch for the potential of some minor flooding issues along area streams, creeks and low lying spots that typically see some high water in these set-ups. Some of the area rivers could start running high by the weekend as much of the data is indicating a solid 2″-3″ rainfall across the board so that something to watch later in the week.
Yet another strong wave of low pressure with abundant moisture will slide through our area beginning Saturday so it looks like another challenging weekend to be out and about. Much of the data is showing an additional .50″ to 1″ rainfall on top of what we should see the next few days so we’ll continue to monitor the flood potential. By Sunday some colder air will wrap in from the northwest with highs only in the low-40s (which is right around average so no Arctic air) with some showers hanging around along with a few wet snowflakes mixed in. Other than a few flurries Monday, it looks dry and pretty seasonable heading into the final days of January.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
TUESDAY NIGHT: Cloudy and wet, steady temps. Lows in the mid-40s.
WEDNESDAY: Breezy and milder, more rain. Highs in the upper 50s and low 60s.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mild as showers continue. Lows in the low-50s.
