Kentucky Weather March 5 Midday - 42° Above Normal

Good afternoon. Kentucky. I'm Aaron Jolly. If you stepped outside this morning, you felt that damp 61 degrees with a quarter inch of rain from overnight. The rain's wrapping up, but here's where it gets interesting. In the next 24 hours. Kentucky's running two completely different weather shows today. Up north around Louisville and Lexington? Showers and thunderstorms roll through around noon with a 90 percent chance. You could see three-quarters to an inch of rain before this clears. Highs hit 69 degrees with southwest winds gusting to 24 miles an hour. It's breezy and wet. Head south and you're in a different world. South Central Kentucky sees storms wrap up by early afternoon, then mostly cloudy skies take over. You'll climb to 75 degrees — that's 42 degrees above normal for early March. Down in Eastern Kentucky? Even warmer at 79 degrees with just a slight chance of late afternoon storms. Partly sunny and calm. Tonight brings scattered storms mainly north of the Bluegrass. Lows stay mild in the upper 50s statewide. Friday is when things get wild. Sunshine returns and temperatures explode into the low 80s across most of Kentucky. That's 42 degrees to 42 degrees above normal and threatening daily records. Louisville could hit 80. Lexington near 80. Even northern counties reach the low 80s. Saturday brings the payback. A strong cold front sweeps through with widespread storms, some potentially severe with damaging winds. Highs in the mid 70s before the front arrives. Sunday dries out nicely with partly sunny skies and mid 60s. Monday stays pleasant before more rain chances return Tuesday and Wednesday. If you've got outdoor plans this weekend. Friday's your window. For the extended outlook, check the latest forecast as confidence improves. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.