Unsettled weather remains as we await tropical rains late week

After a stormy Tuesday with a number of severe thunderstorm warnings and large hail reports especially across Southern Kentucky, it was a fairly dreary Wednesday across the area. The frontal boundary that bright all the active weather put on the brakes and stalled out along the I-75 corridor keeping clouds and a few scattered showers around. Add in an upper low to our southwest, which will be a big player in our weather pattern in the coming days and we ended up with more unsettled conditions. Afternoon highs were held in check into the low to mid-70s and these readings should be fairly common over the next several days.

Heading into Thursday the aforementioned upper low and frontal boundary will essentially stay put as Hurricane Helene begins its approach to the Gulf Coast which will help to feed some additional moisture northward into the Ohio Valley. This should keep skies mainly overcast with a few scattered showers from time to time especially for Eastern and Southern Kentucky as temperatures struggle to sneak into the low 70s in most locations.

Hurricane Helene is forecast to make landfall as a major hurricane in the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast late Thursday bringing significant impacts to that area. High pressure off the east coast coupled with the upper low over the mid-south will help steer the system northward and essentially funnel the remnants right into the heart of the Ohio Valley as we close out the week on Friday.

While Helene should weaken significantly after landfall, there will be plenty of moisture associated with it as the depression/remnant low spins through our area so expect our rain chances to really ramp up on Friday. It appears a very wet finish to the week is on tap with moderate to heavy rain at times. Given the dry/drought conditions we aren’t expecting any significant flooding problems with the heavy rain but there could be some localized, minor flooding issues.

One big difference with Helene is that the overall forward speed is going to be so fast that it will carry some pretty strong winds well inland after making landfall. This is why much of the southeastern U.S. has tropical storm/hurricane watches and warnings very far inland as it weakens but this will take awhile. There are even tropical storm watches as close as Western North Carolina given the expected wind associated with it. Our latest data has breezy to windy conditions with gusts could reach 40 to 45 miles per hour on Friday or higher, which classifies as tropical storm strength. While this is no different than many strong winds event we’ve seen in the past, this is just a heads up given the unique set-up.

This weekend the leftovers from Helene will be absorbed by the upper level low to our southwest and with nothing to drive that low out of the area, it will essentially sit and spin over the Ohio Valley. This will keep the chances for showers around through the weekend and into early next week so you’ll want to keep the rain gear handy. Temperatures will be held in check with the clouds and rain around so expect more low to mid-70s for afternoon highs. Our rainfall totals look to be 2″-4″ widespread with higher amounts in some areas. This should put a big dent in the dry conditions we’ve dealt with the last several months. A frontal boundary looks to work through Tuesday sweeping the upper low out and bringing some drier air to the region by the middle of next week.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a few showers. Lows in the low-60s.
THURSDAY: Cloudy with scattered showers. Highs in the low to mid-70s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Breezy with more rain. Lows in the mid-60s.