It was a cold start to Thursday across Central and Eastern Kentucky as skies cleared out following scattered snow showers that fell late Wednesday. Temperatures dropped into the low to mid-20s with cold high pressure in control across the commonwealth. Even with a good bit of sunshine through the day following some early clouds, afternoon highs only managed to recover into the mid to upper 30s in most spots but luckily this latest cold spell won’t hang around long as milder air returns quickly as our active and unsettled weather pattern remains in place in the coming days. The area of high pressure will drift to the east on Friday allowing more of a southwest flow to pick up, which will help to push more moderate air back into the region. Even with some mid to high level clouds drifting in as the day progresses, temperatures should be a good bit milder with afternoon highs pressing the upper 40s to near 50 degrees in a few spots. It does look like a dry finish to the week and you’ll definitely want to enjoy that as the rain chances are forecast to ramp up heading into the upcoming weekend. The first in a series of storm systems will roll into the Ohio Valley from the west as we kick off the weekend. At least the first half of Saturday looks mainly dry so if you have any Christmas shopping or other activities to get in, the sooner the better as our rain chances should ramp up as we get deeper in the day. The rain gear will be needed Saturday night and into Sunday as some solid moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico arrives ahead of a frontal system. We should see some solid soaking rain with this event as rainfall totals could be around 1″ plus across much of the region over the weekend. The good news is that everything will fall in the form of rain as temperatures stay above average for mid-December with afternoon highs this weekend in the low 50s. We won’t see much of a break as another frontal boundary will follow suit quickly heading into next week with more occasional rain expected on Monday so the unsettled weather looks to stick around. Temperatures should surge into the upper 50s ahead of the next front system thanks to a breezy southwest wind so at least it will continue to be a bit on the mild side. The showers may linger into Tuesday for a bit before winding down as slightly cooler air drifts in behind the departing front. It won’t be overly chilly as highs back down into upper 40s. The parade of storm systems looks to continue into the mid and latter part of next week with additional rain chances on tap and the potential for some colder air to follow although the model data hasn’t lined up with the timing and placement of that so we’ll keep an eye on it. ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST THURSDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear and cold. Lows in the upper-20s. FRIDAY: Partly sunny and pleasantly cool. Highs in the mid to upper-40s. FRIDAY NIGHT: A few clouds and chilly. Lows in the low-30s. Categories: Featured, Local Weather Headlines, Storm Team Weather Blog, Weather, Weather Forecast Tags: ABC 36, ABC 36 News Now, ABC 36 Storm Team Forecast, Chief Meteorologist TG Shuck, damp weekend, December, milder temperatures, scattered rain, unsettled weather pattern, warming up