Stormy weather gives way to cooler temperatures to close out February
A cold front brought big storms early Wednesday before temperatures crashed into the 30s, reminding us it's still late February
It was quite a stormy start to Wednesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky as a much advertised cold front produced a squall line of thunderstorms that rolled through the area during the first part of the day. We saw several severe thunderstorm warnings as this line produced damaging winds, lots of lightning, torrential rain and some decent sized hail. Once the front moved through, temperatures crashed quickly as expected with readings going from the low 60s down to the upper 30s in just a matter of hours!
Heading into “Leap Day” on Thursday and the final day of February (remember 29 days in the month with it being Leap Year) it should feel like the end of the month as temperatures actually stay below average for this time of the year, something that has been a rarity lately. After clearing out overnight temperatures will dip down into the mid-20s so you’ll need the heavier jacket early Thursday. Even with plenty of sunshine around, a north wind will keep afternoon highs into the mid-40s which is about 5 degrees below average so it’s kind of a fitting end to the month.
A wave of energy sliding by to our south on Friday will bring some additional wet weather as we kick off March. We are looking at some general scattered showers but thunderstorms aren’t expect as temperatures hang right around average for the beginning of the month. With the clouds and rain around highs will top out into the upper 40s to around 50 degrees before we see a nice warm-up heading into the weekend.
Overall it should be a pretty dandy weekend across Central and Eastern Kentucky as the spring-like and unseasonably mild air makes a quick return to the area. With more sunshine back in the picture afternoon highs should run back into the low 60s on Saturday so it should feel pretty good after our brief cool down. With more of a southwest flow picking up into Sunday and Monday, afternoon highs will surge back into the low 70s to close out the weekend with dry conditions before a few showers and storms work back into the picture early next week.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear, breezy and cold. Lows in the mid-20s.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny and pleasantly cool Highs in the mid-40s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Clouds increase, still cold. Lows in the low to mid-30s.
