Tranquil weather rolls on as temperatures warm up into the mid-week

After a fantastic weekend of weather across Central and Eastern Kentucky with a nice “sneak peek” of the fall season, the pleasant conditions continued to kick off the new week. In fact Monday ended up being our coolest morning of this stretch with record low temperatures tied here in Lexington and a few other locations. We saw some filtered sunshine thanks to elevated smoke particles in the mid-levels thanks to on-going wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. It was still a really nice day with pleasant conditions thanks to a very dry air-mass in place. Afternoon highs reached the upper 70s to around 80 degrees with a slow-warm up expected into the mid-week.

Expect more of the same on Tuesday with hazy sunshine and afternoon highs just a touch warmer into the low to mid-80s. The air at the surface will stay pretty dry as the elevated smoke particles in the 7,000 to 14,000 foot range cuts down on the beaming sunshine. Humidity levels will be low and comfortable but those will be on the rise later this week as our focus shifts to the southwest and the remnants of a tropical system in the western Gulf potentially head our direction late in the week.

Tropical Storm Francine has developed into the western Gulf of Mexico and is expected to move northward and eventually make landfall as a hurricane along the Louisiana coast late on Wednesday. After landfall this leftovers of Francine are forecasted to slide right up into the heart of our area into Western Kentucky bringing some tropical rains beginning Thursday night and into Friday. A lot of the data is showing the leftover low lingering over the region for a few days as it will be blocked from going farther northward thanks to an area of high pressure sitting over the Ohio Valley.

Keep in mind that these tropical systems take a lot of time to “wring” all the moisture out of them so we could see the rain chances hanging around through the weekend and into early next week. This would of course impact high school football and Kentucky’s game against Georgia Saturday night at Kroger Field in addition to any weekend plans you may have. The positive is that it could really help knock down the dry/drought conditions across our area in the process. Remember these tropical systems can be tricky after landfall so the rain chances are not set in stone for the entire weekend as of this point so we’ll be watching thing closely in the coming days.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. Lows in the upper-40s to low-50s.
TUESDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. Highs in the low to mid-80s.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Fair skies and pleasant. Lows in the mid-50s.