Strong winds return with the rain as our active weather pattern kicks back in

It was a beautiful Thursday across Central and Eastern Kentucky and just what the doctor ordered given the lack of sunshine and some unsettled weather we’ve dealt with lately. With full sunshine and a south to southeast breeze, afternoon highs over achieved reaching the low to mid-50s which is a good solid 10 degrees plus above average for this time of the year.

Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy it as another strong storm system is set to move into the region for Friday. A Wind Advisory is already posted for the entire area from 7am Friday and into 7am Saturday. This is a “high end” Wind Advisory meaning winds are expected to be even stronger than what we saw earlier this week. Winds could gust over 50 miles per hour at times, which could lead to some issues with trees and power lines so keep that in mind. Much of the data is showing the strongest winds moving through during the late morning/ early afternoon hours.

The other part of this system will be another round of some moderate to heavy rain at times. It should be a decent soaker with rainfall totals between a half inch and 1″ which is great news as we continue to chip away at the lengthy drought we’ve seen here in the commonwealth. There is the potential for a few thunderstorms tomorrow and we are under a low end level 1 risk from the Storm Prediction Center. This is due to such strong winds just above the surface so it wouldn’t take much to get those damaging winds down to ground level with any thunderstorms that move through.

The weekend looks cold but mainly dry at this point as temperatures hang in the mid-30s Saturday behind the departing system. There appears to be an initial shot of colder air that will clip the region on Sunday with highs struggling to get into the low 20s. Clouds will increase ahead of the wave of low pressure that should be some light snow chances by Monday but again it should be a mainly dry weekend.

Heading into the King holiday on Monday, we are still looking at the potential for some light snow, although the model data has been bouncing around a bit lately with the strength and timing. At this point any snow looks light but would be impactful given that temperatures should be cold enough for all snow. A secondary wave may cruise in from the southwest keeping the snow chances around  on Tuesday. If this scenario plays out, that would delay the coldest air arriving by about a day with Wednesday morning now looking like single digit lows will be possible with “feel-like” temps below zero. Below is a rundown of what to expect in the coming days.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
THURSDAY NIGHT: Clouds increase late with rising temps. Lows in low to mid-30s.
FRIDAY: Very windy with occasional rain. Highs in the low-50s.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Still windy and colder, a few snow showers early. Lows in the low-20s.