Quiet weather to close out the spring season

It was an active and stormy start to Friday across parts of the area as strong to severe storms brought damaging winds (trees and power lines down), torrential flooding rains and even a few possible tornadoes across far Northern Kentucky. With the slow moving storms creeping southward through the morning hours, many locations along and just south of I-64 picked up a quick 1″-3″ of rainfall with locally higher amounts. Additional showers and storms hung around through the day, especially across Southern Kentucky as the frontal boundary slowly drifted through the commonwealth. Temperatures did manage to sneak back into the 80s for highs in those areas that stayed dry early with other locations struggling through into the 70s.

High pressure will build into the Ohio Valley from the west as we close out the week Friday with the Juneteenth holiday. With plenty of sunshine and a light northwest wind, it should be a delightful day across Central and Eastern Kentucky so you’ll want to get out and enjoy it especially if you have the day off for the holiday. Afternoon highs should be either side of the 80 degree mark so it will be comfortably warm despite temperatures being a few degrees below average for this time of the year.

Heading into the final day of spring on Saturday (the Summer Solstice occurs at 4:24 am Eastern Sunday morning, marking the beginning of the summer season) look for more nice weather across the commonwealth as high pressure continues to dominate. Conditions should be pretty ideal for any outdoor plans you may have but make sure and wear plenty of sunscreen if you are going to be out for any length of time given the expected sunshine. Afternoon highs will continue to be warm with temperatures topping out in the low-80s. Our next system will make a run at the Ohio Valley on Father’s Day although some of the data looks to keep the best rain and storm chances later in the day so it shouldn’t be a total washout on Sunday. Just plan on taking the rain gear with you for anything planned as we celebrate all the dads out there.

With a wave of low pressure pulling a trailing cold front through the commonwealth, it should be a bit wet and stormy as we kick off next week. Look for more scattered showers and thunderstorms, which will hopefully bring some beneficial rains to drought stricken Southern Kentucky. The latest Drought Monitor indicates areas along and north of I-64 in good shape with the heavier rain we’ve seen lately, while a few spots down south around Liberty and Hazard are still in the severe to extreme drought range. Once the front clears the state late Monday, we should see another dry stretch into the mid-week with more sunshine and highs in the upper 70s to low-80s.