We enjoyed another beautiful day of weather across Central and Eastern Kentucky with lots of sunshine, a few high clouds and a pleasant southwest breeze. Combine all those factors together and you end up with a splendid April day as afternoon highs reached the upper 70s and low 80s across the area. We’ve gotten a little spoiled with the summer-like temperatures we’ve enjoyed the entire week and it looks like we’ll be back to reality for late April heading into the upcoming weekend. A strong cold front will lead the charge for the upcoming changes as a squall line of thunderstorms is expected to develop across the Missouri Valley early Thursday evening before moving east ahead of the front. While that region has a legitimate shot at some organized severe weather, our chances really ramp down the father east you go based on a few factors. The timing of the activity is key since an overnight arrival helps to stabilize the atmosphere with the lose of the day-time heating, plus some warmer air aloft creates a temperature inversion at night which helps to suppress and/or weaken thunderstorms. This scenario looks to be in play into early Friday. Even with that the Storm Prediction Center has much of Central and Southern Kentucky in a low-end Level 1 severe risk (out of 5) for the overnight hours with a few damaging wind gusts and hail the primary threats. The tornado threat is very minimal even though it is non-zero. Most of Eastern Kentucky isn’t in the risk area at all and much of the data shows a weakening of the storms heading toward daybreak Friday. Other than a few lingering showers Friday morning, we should be in decent shape to close out the week and head into the upcoming weekend. With a north wind and a few scattered clouds around, afternoon highs Friday should top out into the upper 60s. This weekend some pleasantly cool air will drop into the Ohio Valley so temperatures will be slightly below average for late April. A southern system may throw a few high clouds our way but otherwise it will be high and dry with temperatures topping out in the upper 50s and low 60s. Expect some chilly mornings through Monday with lows sneaking into the upper 30s so we’ll have to watch the frost potential in sheltered valley areas. Next week should start on a dry and quiet note before a fairly weak front drops down into the Ohio Valley in the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame. It appears our best rain chances should be late Tuesday and into early Wednesday before this system departs the area. Afternoon highs should reach the mid to upper 60s ahead of the front…with the data now trying to trend a bit cooler behind the front with highs possibly dropping back down into the upper 50s by the middle of next week. ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST THURSDAY NIGHT: Rain and storms, ending late. Lows in the upper-50s. FRIDAY: Morning showers, drying out during the afternoon. Highs in the upper-60s. FRIDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. Lows in the low-40s. Categories: Featured, Local Weather Headlines, Storm Team Weather Blog, Weather, Weather Forecast Tags: 2024, ABC 36, ABC 36 On Your Side, ABC 36 Storm Team Forecast, April, breezy, Chief Meteorologist TG Shuck, Cooler temperatures, dry weekend, Level 1 Severe Risk, scattered storms