Rain chances persist into the mid-week

After a brief break from the widespread and much needed rain on Memorial Day, we saw another damp and dreary day Tuesday as folks headed back to work and school after the long holiday weekend. With a stalled out front slowly lifting northward and a wave of low pressure spinning along it, much of the area saw some steady rain through the morning with more scattered activity and some heavier downpours later in the day. The additional showers caused some minor, localized flood issues given all the recent rain we have seen. Temperatures managed to sneak into the mid-70s for afternoon highs despite the clouds and rain around with the muggy feel to the air persisting.

The weak boundary will stay camped out over the commonwealth into Wednesday, keeping the chances for scattered showers and storms in the picture. Most of the data is showing more hit and miss rain and storms instead of a widespread soaker but you’ll need to take the rain gear along as you head out. Given all the moisture in place, anything that develops has the potential for some locally heavy downpours, which could create some brief high water issues so keep that in mind. As a result a Flood Watch is out for areas just north of Lexington until 2am Thursday morning given the fairly saturated ground and additional rain chances. Afternoon highs should reach the upper 70s and it will be our last day of legitimate rain chances area wide for a bit.

A secondary weak front will push the boundary to our south into Thursday as high pressure builds into the Great Lakes. This should bring drier air back into the Ohio Valley, including the commonwealth so we’ll definitely be headed in the right direction for a dry pattern. Some of the data is showing enough moisture hanging back to squeeze out a shower or two along the Kentucky/Tennessee border but overall most locations should be dry. With some sunshine returning, we should see a pleasant late May day with afternoon highs climbing back to around the 80 degree mark. The area of high pressure will settle southward on Friday so it will be a pleasant finish to the week with more sunshine expected and afternoon highs back around the 80 degree mark.

The final weekend of May is shaping up to be a pretty good one at this point, even with another weak cold front set to push through the region on Saturday. Other than a stray shower chance, it should be a dry day with a mix of clouds and sunshine along with temperatures topping out in the upper 70s. As another area of “cooler” high pressure fills in behind the departing front on Sunday, a northeast wind will be in place so afternoon highs may back off a few degrees into the mid-70s despite plenty of sunshine expected. It looks to be a nice start to June early next week with quiet conditions and afternoon highs right around average in the upper-70s.