Wind and warmth hang around for one more day
With highs well into the 70s Wednesday, most locations set records with more warmth on the way Thursday
It felt more like mid to late May instead of late February on Wednesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky with record high temperatures shattered by early afternoon. Strong southwest winds with gusts 35 to 45 miles per hour, highs reached the mid to upper 70s to go along with some nice sunshine. Most locations had established record highs for Wednesday right around 70 degrees so many of those had already been overtaken before the lunch hour. Check out the graphic below, which shows how unusually mild it has been in Lexington since the beginning of the year. Remember there were 31 days in January and we are through 22 days this month.
After a few gusty showers and some thunder into the early hours of Thursday, we are looking at one more spring-like day before a cold front brings temperatures more indicative of late February our way as we close out the week. The big difference with this system is that we aren’t expecting stormy/severe weather with the passage of the front, which is typically the case as we level the playing field and cool things back down. So the frontal passage should be a dry one with temperatures crashing from the 70s to the 30s from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning. The record high in Lexington Thursday is 80 degrees…which happens to be the warmest February high in Lexington since records have been kept beginning in the late 1800s so we’ll see how it plays out!
After a cooler Friday with highs in the mid 40s, our weekend looks a bit of unsettled with a few spotty and nuisance showers possible from time to time. The good news is that afternoon highs should climb back through the 50s, which will be pleasant for the final weekend of February.
Our active weather pattern should continue into early next week as yet another storm system brings mild air, thunderstorm chances, and wind! This system will bear watching for heavy rain potential as this could create a few flooding issues as area rivers are still running on the high side. Stay tuned.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Gusty showers and thunder…breezy and mild. Lows in the low 60s.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, warm and warm. Highs in the upper 70s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Breezy and turning colder. Lows in the low to mid 30s.
