Unseasonably cool weather hangs around for Derby Day

It was a pleasant start to the month of May and a pretty good Kentucky Oaks Day across Central and Eastern Kentucky despite a weak boundary dropping through the Ohio Valley. This front was enough to generate a stray shower or two but most locations remained dry with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Afternoon highs stayed a little bit below average with temperatures topping out in the low to mid-60s but it was still a pretty comfortable day to kick off the new month.

Heading into Derby Day we’ve got a few changes to the forecast as an upper level wave now looks to rotate through the region on Saturday. As a result we’ll see a few more clouds around and much of the model data is now trying to squeeze pout a few passing showers through the day, despite some drier air at the surface. It will be an unseasonably cool day for early May with afternoon highs struggling to get into the upper 50s for highs, especially if we end up seeing more clouds than sunshine. No matter what your plans are for the big day you’ll definitely want to dress for a cooler day and now plan on taking the rain gear along just to be on the safe side given that we could see a few rain drops.

Sunday morning will be quite chilly with temperatures dropping into the mid to upper 30s so some scattered frost may be on the table. With highs pressure building in it should be a nice finish to the weekend with sunshine and afternoon highs back in the low-60s, which is still about 10 degrees below average for early May. A frontal boundary will slowly drop into the Ohio Valley heading into early next week so look for a southwest flow to kick in, which will push temperatures back into the low-70s for afternoon highs. This front will bring some scattered rain and storm chances, which is good news considering the drought situation across the region.

Look for an unsettled period of weather through much of next week as the first front slowly works through the region and another one follows suit later in the week. This will keep a daily chance of showers and storms in the forecast with the most favorable window for beneficial rainfall being late Tuesday and into Wednesday. We’ll take all the rain we can squeeze out as we have a big deficit to overcome. Temperatures will back off a bit with the clouds and showers around as afternoon highs stay mainly in the 60s.