Unseasonably warm weather hangs tough into the mid-week

Record high temperatures could be challenged into Wednesday

1 hour ago

T.G. Shuck,

Our summer-like stretch of weather across Central and Eastern Kentucky continued on Tuesday with well above average temperatures holding firm across much of the region. With the commonwealth sitting on the western edge of a ridge of high pressure, most locations stayed warm and dry as the active weather remained to our west and north across the Central Plains and up into the Great Lakes. Even with a few scattered clouds around, a persistent southwest breeze with gusts over 20 miles per hour at times helped push afternoon highs into the upper 70s and low 80s across the board with temperatures getting close to record levels in a few locations.

Look for more of the same heading into the mid-week as the high pressure ridge holds strong, keeping much of the commonwealth in the “sweet spot” for more summer-like temperatures. With a bit more sunshine working with the southwest breeze, afternoon highs should bump up a few degrees into the mid-80s on Wednesday, which will once again challenge record highs for “tax day”. The record high temperature in Lexington for Wednesday is 84 degrees set back in 2010 and we should have a legitimate shot at tying that mark and possibly eclipsing it if temperatures overachieve. You’ll definitely want to spend some time outdoors if you can into the mid-week.

A wave of low pressure riding eastward through the Ohio Valley will increase our chances of scattered showers and thunderstorms heading into late Thursday. Right now the overall severe threat looks fairly low although the Storm Prediction Center has parts of Central and Northern Kentucky in a Level 1 severe risk (out of 5) with some gusty to damaging winds and hail the primary threats. We could use the rain given the dry conditions across the area so we may squeeze out up to a half inch of rain in a few locations hopefully. Temperatures will remain unseasonably warm with highs still in the upper 70s despite the clouds and showers around. Once the low slides on by, we’ll be back to dry and warm conditions to close out the week Friday with more sunshine and highs jumping back into the low to mid-80s so it should be a good way to wrap up the week.

Heading into the weekend we’ll squeeze in one more day of this summer-like stretch before changes in the overall pattern kick in. A cold front will slide in from the west, bringing another round of showers and thunderstorms to the commonwealth. Given the timing of the system you’ll want to get outdoor plans done early as the rain and storm chances look to ramp up as we get deeper in the day. Afternoon highs will make one final run into the low-80s before a legitimate shot of cooler air pushes in behind the departing front into Sunday. Look for temperatures to be a solid 20 degrees cooler to end the weekend with afternoon highs struggling to get into the low-60s so you’ll definitely notice the difference. Fortunately these temperatures are just a bit below average for mid-April and we’ll see a steady recovery into early next week as afternoon highs climb back through the 60s with another stretch of quiet weather on the way.