Typical early July weather across the Bluegrass this week

The big heat finally relaxed across Central and Eastern Kentucky for the second half of the holiday weekend and that continued to kick off the first full week of July on Monday. Temperatures back off from the mid-90s late last week to the mid to upper 80s through the weekend as the dome of heat shifted eastward, which made it much more bearable to be outdoors. With a slow moving upper level trough dropping into the Ohio Valley, we saw a pockets of scattered storms during the afternoon hours, some of which contained some heavy rain, which is pretty typical for this time of the year and that will be a prelude of things to come the next few days.

The slow moving upper level energy combined with plenty of moisture in place will keep warm and humid conditions across the commonwealth for Tuesday. After starting the day in the upper 60s, afternoon highs should climb into the mid to upper-80s, which is right around average for the early part of July. Once again a few storms should fire during the peaking warmth of the late afternoon and early evening hours but these will be widely scattered. Any storms that do develop have the potential of producing some locally heavy rain given the moist air-mass in place.

We’ll be locked into our July weather pattern into the mid-week as the upper level trough slowly but surely begins to pull east of the Ohio Valley but it will take its time in doing so. As a result we’ll see a “rinse and repeat” forecast for Wednesday and Thursday with partly to mostly sunny skies expected both days along with a few scattered storms popping up during the heating of the day. Don’t cancel any outdoor plans if you have them but once again any storms that do fire have the potential of producing some locally heavy downpours along with some decent lightning strikes. Afternoon highs should creep back up a few degrees into the upper 80s across the board.

A slight pattern shift is on the table for the late week as a legitimate cold front drops in from the northwest heading into the Friday. Look for a better chance for more widespread showers and storms as we close out the week and head into the upcoming weekend so any outdoor plans may have to be adjusted, especially on Saturday as the front slides through the commonwealth. The overall rain chances should lessen to finish out the weekend and heading into next week but they won’t go away completely. Temperatures should be held in check Friday and Saturday a bit with the better rain chances so look for low to mid-80s for highs before we climb the ladder back into mid-80s into next week.