146
FXUS63 KJKL 031827
AFDJKL

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
National Weather Service Jackson KY
227 PM EDT Wed Jun 3 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Temperatures rise to the upper 80s and lower 90s by the end of
  the work week.

- Dry conditions remain in place through Saturday afternoon, but a
  pattern shift will bring daily shower and thunderstorm chances
  to the region from late Saturday into next week.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Thursday night)
Issued at 227 PM EDT WED JUN 3 2026

High pressure at the surface and aloft will remain in control of the
weather through the short-term period, with a gradual shift from
being centered to the north and west to begin the period, to
becoming centered just south and east of the area late in the
period. This gradual shift will allow for the current northeasterly
surface flow to become more southwesterly Thursday, with gradually
increasing high cloudiness later in the day into Thursday night as
the next system moves closer while still remaining well to the west
and northwest of the area. The shift to a southwesterly surface wind
direction will allow for the warming trend to accelerate a bit, with
highs warming into the mid-80s, about 5 degrees on average warmer
than this afternoon. Meanwhile, overnight lows will also trend
warmer, with upper 40s to mid-50s tonight under good radiational
cooling conditions rising to the 50s to lower-60s Thursday night
with an increase in high clouds and weak warm advection. Valley fog
along the mainstem rivers should be expected both tonight and
Thursday night.

.LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Tuesday)
Issued at 355 AM EDT WED JUN 3 2026

The main change to grids for the first part of the extended
forecast this morning was to add in more terrain details each
night on account of the dry air mass and mostly clear skies that
will be in place through Saturday morning. Did also include some
river valley fog late each night. Ridging aloft still looks to
keep things dry and quiet through the end of the work week before
return flow moisture and a more active pattern moves back into at
least the western parts of the Ohio Valley - helping to ramp up
convection chances from late Saturday through Tuesday for the JKL
CWA.

The previous long term discussion follows:

The first half of the long term forecast period remains squarely
under the influence of the dominant SE CONUS ridging, but that
pattern looks to break down later this weekend. As troughing digs
into the greater Ohio River Valley on Saturday, the antecedent
ridging gets shunted further to the south. Kentucky looks to be
positioned just to the south of the aforementioned trough axis`s
apex, which suggests that a brief period of deeper west-
southwesterly flow and better moisture return is possible before
split/quasi-zonal flow sets early next week. A Rex Block feature
will have emerged upstream over the Great Plains by then, thus
allowing the weather pattern to stagnate here in the commonwealth.
The evolution of that block is difficult to pinpoint at the current
temporal range, but confidence is high that rain chances will be
higher at the end of the long term period than they were at the
beginning.

The initial ridging pattern favors efficient diurnal processes and
warm/dry sensible weather in Eastern Kentucky. Expect mostly clear
skies to foster efficient diurnal mixing, with overnight
ridge/valley temperature splits probable. After widespread afternoon
highs in the 80s on Thursday, sheltered and shaded valleys should
cool to the 50s after sunset. Given antecedent afternoon dewpoints
in the low to mid 50s, nocturnal radiation fog is poised to develop
in valley locales with a nearby water source. Fog coverage should be
less widespread than it was in the near term period though, as the
previous days` warm and sunny weather will culminate in drying
soils. Once the valley fog burns off on Friday morning, temperatures
are forecast to quickly rise to a few degrees warmer than they were
the day prior. Forecast guidance collectively depicts rising
midlevel heights and 850mb temperatures warming to the 15-20 degrees
Celsius range by the end of the work week. With the surface high
centered directly over the Southern Apps, surface winds will adopt
more of a southerly component. The resultant downsloping and diurnal
mixing should dry the lower levels of the column out. Baseline NBM
data suggests that SE portions of the forecast area could warm into
the lower 90s on Friday afternoon, and this seems reasonable given
all of the above.

Temperatures should remain in the 80s for the rest of the forecast
period, but the renewed proximity to upper level troughing and
increased moisture return will introduce cloud cover and PoPs to the
rest of the forecast period. Most of the forecast area should stay
dry on Saturday afternoon, but an isolated shower cannot be ruled
out by sunset in the Bluegrass. The better rain chances arrive
overnight into Sunday, but the positive tilt of the parent troughing
aloft and the displacement of the better forcing/dynamics should
preclude any significant severe weather risk. Likewise, the early-
period dryness will mitigate the risk of widespread hydrological
impacts. The stagnation of the pattern will keep shower and storm
chances in the forecast through early next week, but these are
likely to be isolated/scattered and diurnal in nature. No particular
day looks like a complete washout, as is typical for such early-
summer weather patterns here in Eastern Kentucky.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon)
ISSUED AT 108 PM EDT WED JUN 3 2026

VFR TAFs are expected through the 18z TAF window as surface high
pressure builds into region. River valley fog will develop once
again tonight, yet will stay clear of the TAF sites. Light and
variable winds will be the rule.

&&

.JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

$$

SHORT TERM...CMC
LONG TERM...MARCUS/GREIF
AVIATION...CMC