Windy weather returns as we close out the week

Gusts could be over 30 miles per hour with dry conditions expected

1 hour ago

T.G. Shuck,

After a warm, windy, and stormy Wednesday across Central and Eastern Kentucky, it was a quieter Thursday weather wise as much cooler air filtered in behind the departing cold front. It may have been a shock to the system for some as temperatures started the day in the mid-30s with enough of a breeze to put our “feel-like” temps down in the upper 20s, a far cry from the record upper 70s most folks enjoyed through the mid-week. Morning clouds did eventually give way to some afternoon sunshine and with a higher sun angle as we get deeper in March and more daylight, we did manage to reach the upper 40s for afternoon highs with a few low 50s down south.

A weak frontal system will run through the Ohio Valley on Friday bringing more wind to the area thanks to the tight gradient between high pressure to our east and the approaching front to our west. Fortunately we aren’t looking at any rain chances with this front so look for a mix of clouds and sunshine through the day. Breezy southwest winds should help push afternoon highs back into the low-60s in most locations but it will be another day where we could see strong wind gusts in the 35 to 40 miles per hour range so it’s possible we could see another Wind Advisory hoisted for the area as we close out the week.

The frontal boundary should weaken and stall out just to our south into the weekend, setting us up for a pleasant mid March Saturday. Look for a mostly sunny day with lighter winds so it should be pretty ideal for any outdoor weekend plans that you may have on your calendar. Afternoon highs should be similar to Friday’s thanks to a modest push of slightly cooler air as the expected sunshine should level the playing field, allowing temperatures to get back into the low-60s here in the Bluegrass with slightly warmer readings down south. Our next storm system will approach on Sunday with mainly dry conditions during the day as temperatures surge back into the low-70s for afternoon highs as winds crank up once again from the southwest.

Right now the timing of the front would put the majority of the rain and storms through our area during the overnight hours into Monday morning, but we’ll still have to watch for the potential of a few strong to severe storms even with the lack of instability. The bigger story with this system will be the significant drop in temperatures with passage of the front into Monday as we return to winter-like conditions ironically as we hit the home stretch of finishing the season. Temperatures will be much colder by Monday morning, falling some 30 degrees over a 3 to 6 hour window so expected low 30s out the door on Monday morning and it will feel even colder with the brisk northwest wind! Enough moisture may hang around to crank out a few snow showers with little to no recovery expected with temperatures as afternoon highs hover into the mid-30s. It will be the coldest air we’ve seen in several weeks with the unseasonably cold air hanging around for a few days with lows in the upper teens and low 20s and afternoon highs in the 30s. A weak clipper system could throw a few flakes/sprinkles our way into Wednesday morning before we start to moderate the air-mass a bit later next week.