Remnants of Beryl headed into the Ohio Valley through the mid-week

After a nice finish to the holiday weekend with sunshine and temperatures pretty typical for early July, you could really feel the humidity and moisture start to return across Central and Eastern Kentucky on Monday. Despite some higher clouds drifting in, afternoon highs reached the upper 80s and low 90s. The focus over the next few days will be the tropical remnants of Beryl, which made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast early Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane. This system will weaken as it moves inland and get swept up in the upper level flow, which will bring the leftovers into the Ohio Valley over the next could of days. Below is what to expect and not expect as this system works through.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind as the remnants of Beryl move through. These tropical system take awhile to “wring” all the moisture out of them (think of how many times you have to twist a sponge to get most of the water out of it…same principle here) so some localized heavy downpours will be possible with any storm that develop.

The other part is that the exact track of the residue low is critical because even though the system is well inland, there is still some “spin” with it, which is why landfalling tropical systems typically have a threat of some brief tornadoes. That area that usually occurs in is just to the right of the center of the low, which in this case should be right along the Ohio River. This is why there is a low end tornado threat for the area Tuesday, with the focus more concentrated just west of the viewing area. The Storm Prediction Center has a Level 2 severe risk (out of 5) along the Ohio River to the southwest (where the brief tornado threat will be highest) with essentially our viewing area in a Level 1 risk.

Once the low passes to our northwest into Wednesday, the severe threat will diminish but some wrap around showers and thunderstorms will be possible with some heavy downpours still on the table. In the wake of the departing low, we should catch some drier and a little less humid air heading into the late week as afternoon highs reach the mid-80s, which is right around average for this time of the year.

Once the rain chances exit, we are going to shift back into a mainly dry pattern and more significant heat begins to work eastward into the Ohio Valley to end the week and through the upcoming weekend. Afternoon highs will climb back into the low and mid-90s with some humidity around and while we won’t be heading into territory we haven’t been before and it will be mid-July by then, you’ll need to use some common sense and take it easy during the hottest part of the day it appears into next week.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy, warm and muggy. Lows in the mid-70s.
TUESDAY: Hot and humid, scattered P.M. storms. Highs in the low-90s.
TUESDAY NIGHT: More showers and storms, still muggy. Lows in the low-70s.