Scattered rain and storm chances hang tough into the weekend

We finished out the first full week of July just like we started it across Central and Eastern Kentucky with more scattered showers and thunderstorms around along with plenty of warmth and humidity. A slow moving frontal system dropping into the Ohio Valley kept things a bit unsettled although we did have some dry times during the course of the day. Once again any of the storms that developed produced some locally heavy rain, just as they have each day this week. With a bit more cloudiness around along with some scattered rain, afternoon highs were held in check a bit with temperatures topping out in the low 80s.

The front will slowly sag southward through the commonwealth on Saturday with more scattered showers and storms on the table. The heaviest swath of potential organized rainfall now appears to be just off to our southwest so it may not be a total wash-out to begin the weekend. If you have outdoor plans you’ll need to check the weather before heading out. Given all the moisture in place over the region, anything that develops has the potential to produce some locally heavy rain, which could lead to some additional flooding concerns. A Flood Watch is out for the entire commonwealth until 2am on Sunday morning. Afternoon highs will reach the low-80s across the board as we continue to see a good bit of cloudiness around the area.

The front will begin to push to the south a bit into Sunday but some of the data is now indicating that this may be a slower process. Look for a few scattered showers and storms on occasion with the heaviest concentration across our southern counties closer to the front. Afternoon highs should jump up a few degrees into the mid-80s on Sunday. As mentioned some of the model data is trying to keep the front a little closer while holding an upper level low just off to our southwest into early next week. If this scenario plays out, then additional showers and storms will be possible into Monday, mainly driven by the heating of the day as afternoon highs hold into the mid-80s.

Hopefully we’ll squeeze in a couple of dry days into Tuesday and Wednesday as high pressure to our northwest drops into the Ohio Valley. For now we’ll keep things dry during that window with some sunshine and afternoon highs into the upper 80s to around 90 degrees. However we’ll have to watch the trend of the energy to our south along with the moisture in place, which could lead to some additional shower chances mainly during the afternoon and early evening hours. Another frontal system may try to slide in from the northeast and clip us later next week bringing additional showers back to the commonwealth as the summer warmth and humidity hang tough.