Summer heat gives way to an unsettled weather pattern

After jumping right into the summer season here to close out the weekend with afternoon highs into the upper 80s, we saw more of the same across Central and Eastern Kentucky to begin the week. With plenty of sunshine around and a breezy south wind pushing unseasonably warm air into the commonwealth, afternoon highs ran back into the upper 80s with a few spots touching the 90 degree mark for the first time since last fall.

The sneak peek of summer-like air should stick around heading into primary Election Day on Tuesday. With mostly sunny skies and the persistent southwest wind in place, afternoon highs should make a run back into the upper 80s so conditions should be nice to get out and vote if you haven’t already. A slow moving frontal system will be laying to our northwest so the potential is there for a late day storm to fire, although the majority of the activity will remain to our west before we see the storm chances ramp up Tuesday night. The Storm Prediction Center has parts of Central Kentucky in a low end Level 1 severe risk into early Wednesday morning just to cover any storms that could be strong enough to produce damaging winds.

Our rain and storm chances look to be more widespread on Wednesday as the frontal system slowly slides through the state. This is great news considering the on-going drought across the region and it will signal the beginning of a more unsettled weather pattern in the coming days. With the clouds and rain around, temperatures will back off a bit into the upper 70s for highs Wednesday. The front should stall out just to our south Thursday with a few scattered showers around and slightly cooler air with highs in the low-70s. You’ll still need the rain gear potentially but it shouldn’t be a total wash-out that day.

The aforementioned front to our south should arc back to the north as a warm front to close out the week on Friday as a wave of low pressure rides along it. This should increase the more widespread shower and storm chances once again as we hopefully start to chip away and the on-going spring drought across the commonwealth. Heading into Memorial Day weekend our weather looks to remain unsettled as the boundary hangs out to our north and we see a few waves of energy sliding through the region. Unfortunately it won’t be ideal for outdoor plans as there will be daily chances for scattered showers and storms so that’s something you’ll have to work around. It will be warm despite the occasional storm chances with afternoon highs in the upper 70s and low-80s through Memorial Day.