Update: 11:00 a.m. 7/18/24
The hazardous weather outlook for northeastern Kentucky has expired. The threat is now primarily in Whitley, Knox, Bell, and eight other counties.
Original Story:
The National Weather Service in Jackson has released a hazardous weather outlook warning for the area. Rowan, Bath, Menifee, Morgan, and 29 other counties in eastern Kentucky are facing the possibility of thunderstorms and strong winds over the next few days.
Forecasters said storms may lead to flash floods in low-lying regions. NWS meteorologist Dustin Jordan said even though the storms are predicted, the chance of flooding is not very high.
“There is still the chance of maybe some areas seeing some heavy rainfall, but we've been very dry so it's going to take thunderstorms moving like what we would call training - or thunderstorms moving over the same spots multiple times - but right now that hazard looks fairly low,” said Jordan.
Meteorologists said the expected rain will be good for farmers and gardeners following a dry spell over the last several weeks.
“These kinds of drier periods certainly lend themselves to having to do a lot more watering of their crops and things like that and probably having to tend to them a little differently than they would,” said Jordan. “So, hopefully, some of this rain will be a little bit of a respite for some of those areas that maybe haven’t seen rain.”
Jordan said while the incoming weather may yield some storms, it’s going to feel nice outside otherwise. Friday will be low in humidity with temperatures in the upper 70’s and low 80’s.
Jordan goes on to report this weather is very normal for June and July in the Commonwealth. He added that so far, the temperatures and rainfall this year only slightly surpass that of last summer. Over the next few weeks, the likelihood of more rain and storms may increase across the state. The NWS predicted that next Friday those storms may be more widespread.