Good Sunday and Happy Mother’s Day. A very cold air mass has pushed into the state today and it’s Mother Nature that is going to try to steal the weather show. Frost and record low temps are possible late tonight into Monday morning. A Green Thumb Alert is in full swing.
We swill start out the day with temps running in the upper 30s to low 40s. Thermometers later today will top out in the upper 50s across much of central and eastern Kentucky. A few spots may top the 60 degree mark under a partly sunny sky.
Tonight is when the frosty fun begins with readings likely dropping into the low and mid 30s. Record lows are in jeopardy:
Lexington: 37 1996 32 is the coldest recorded temp for this late in the season. (May 20, 1894)
Louisville: 40 1997 35 is the coldest recorded temp for this late in the season. (May 25, 1925)
Frankfort: 34 1941 31 is the coldest recorded temp for this late in the season. (May 22, 2002)
Bowling Green: 35 1895 33 is the coldest recorded temp for this late in the season. (May 16, 1997)
Covington: 31 1996 30 is the coldest recorded temp for this late in the season. (May 19, 2002)
As you can see… daily record lows are a good bet for some cities. If we can somehow approach the 32 degree mark… it could challenge some of the coldest temps ever for this late in the spring. Any high clouds or fog would keep temps up a few degrees, so it’s touch and go on that.
Regardless… frost is a real possibility Monday morning. Afternoon temps will rebound toward 60 under sunny skies. Another frost threat will be with us early Tuesday in the east.
Much warmer air will then shoot in here for the middle of the week…
That will push temps well into the 80s and ushers in a pattern more typical of May. It’s one that will also see an increase in the threat for showers and thunderstorms by Thursday. That looks to kick into high gear into early next week…
This is NOT a pattern that is flipping the switch to summer.
Make it a great day and take care.
i am really beginning to wonder if there will be any pattern that will ever flip the switch to true summer?
Maybe around summer time
NO MORE RAIN!!!! NO MORE COLD!!! This spring has been nasty. What gives??
I’ll take the rain showers and cooler temperatures over the tornadoes and severe weather we had last spring. As far as I know, we’ve not even had so much as a Severe Thunderstorm Warning here in my neck of the woods in extreme EKY! I think we should consider ourselves lucky!
Chris, I hope the next couple of mornings are the last if the frosts until the fall. Looks like my azealeas are going to get babied another time it two. Thank you for all you do. Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there today. Make it a wonderful day.
Rain and thunderstorms with temps in the 80s, sounds like summer to me?
Also have seen temps forecast in the 90 s for Minnesota!
We haven’t even hit 85°F in Lexington yet! The forecasts for the western plains and even to Minnesota will see their first 90°+ day with even some isolated triple digits after the 16inches of snow last week.
The last official freeze I can ever remember for this area was on May 19, 2002. The temp fell to 32 in Lexington.
I’ve lived in this house in Lawrenceburg three springs now and this would make two out of three with a 32 or below temp in May. May 5, 2011 and May 13, 2013.
On a side note, the average temp for may is 2 degrees above normal in Lexington through yesterday. It should be to around by Wednesday, but then the warm-up commences. There is no data that seems to support the notion that this May will end up colder than normal. Wetter, for sure, but not colder.
Ah come on summer.this I’sgetting ridiculous… Pool weather… Pool weather..pool weather.I want some warm nights
In the last forty years, we have had several years with fewer highs of 80 or greater than we will have through the end of May this year.
1983 and 1997 only had two days of 80 or higher through the end of May!
The most 1977 with 33. Last year had 24, 2011 had 13, and 2010 had 21–so that is probably why this spring seems so cool.
We have had 5 so far this year. Let’s see where that number ends up.