Good Wednesday to one and all and thanks for dropping by the blog. You don’t need me to tell you this has been a soggy spring as we’ve seen round after round of heavy rain and storms. All this is adding up to a record setting spring across our part of the world.

Let’s get into some of the numbers to illustrate just how wet things have been. We will use the Lexington and Louisville numbers for our little show and tell. “Spring” in the weather community runs from March through May. We still have almost a month left for the spring of 2011 and rainfall is on a blistering pace as both cities are already up to the third wettest springs on record.

Lexington

Since March 1st: 20.44″

Wettest Springs
1. 24.56” 1997
2. 22.12” 1935
3. 19.24” 1975

Louisville

Since March 1st: 22.50″

Wettest Springs
1. 26.74” 1997
2. 23.89” 1996
3. 22.07” 2002

The numbers certainly tell the story and there are parts of the state that are actually running well ahead of those digits. That is especially true for much of central and western Kentucky as this area has seen more rain over the past two months than the region would normally get in a 6 or 7 month period.

As a matter of fact… the entire Ohio Valley has been the main focus for precipitation across the country this year. Check out the precipitation anomaly map since January 1st…



That much moisture in the soil will have a major impact on the weather around here for the weeks and months ahead. Such a wet ground strongly argues for a cooler than normal late spring and summer ahead of us. That was already where my thought process was heading toward this summer and the wet ground seals the deal for your friendly weatherdude.

That doesn’t mean NO heat or warm temps… just that it will be severely tempered and even held in check for the most part. We are likely to see a continuation of the wetter than normal pattern as well.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves as we have a lot on the line with the forecast over the next several days. Kentucky Derby Saturday and Mother’s Day Sunday are just around the corner and many folks are already making plans based on the weather. Let’s get after it.

– Today will see more cool to chilly temps across the area. Highs today will range from the low to mid 50s east to low 60s west. Scattered showers will be possible… especially in the east.

– Morning lows today can dip into the upper 30s for areas with clear skies and the same can be expected for Thursday morning. Patchy frost?

– A weak system will dive in from the northwest late Thursday into Friday and bring a scattered shower or thunderstorm. Highs will rebound into the 60s.

– Our big weekend will find a slightly stronger storm system moving in later Saturday into Sunday. This will have more moisture to work with and should bring some showers and storms with it. I am hopeful we can get through Derby Day before these roll in from the northwest. Mom’s Day will feature some scattered stuff. Temps this weekend will return toward the normal 70s.

– A BIG warmup is likely for early next week as readings head into the 80s. You can see this very well on the European Model…



– Our Motto this spring continues to be “Everytime it warms it storms”. Well… it will warm early next week so you know what should come from it… more storms. This could get active by the middle of the week with severe weather.

– After the warmth of early next week and the possible severe weather that brings it to an end… more cooler than normal temps will likely move in…



That’s all I have for you crazy kids today. Have a great Wednesday and take care.