As we head into the summer months, south central and eastern Kentucky may be in for some warmer than normal temperatures. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center's three-month outlook predicts a 40-percent chance that the region will be hotter this summer.
Jane Marie Wix is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson. Wix warned that prediction should be taken with a grain of salt.
“A lot of people say well, we're going to be above normal the whole time. And basically, that's an average over the three months. So there could be times where we're quite a bit cooler than normal. And then there could be times where we're quite a bit warmer than normal. And it basically comes down to an average,” said Wix.
Federal forecasters recently predicted 14 to 21 named storms will form in the Atlantic this hurricane season, which is above average. Wix said eastern Kentucky could see remnants from some of those storms this summer. This means there is the possibility of some persistent rainfall. Wix says while flooding is not usually a concern in those cases, it depends on how saturated the ground is.
“As you start to get like persistent day after day after day, it is a concern. But I don't think it'd be like a widespread type flooding, it would just be kind of more of isolated areas, maybe they're low lying or smaller creeks and streams that could see some problems,” said Wix.
New climate normals were released, drawing on 30 years of weather data from 1991 to 2020. Wix explained those norms show eastern Kentucky a few degrees warmer than normal and with slightly higher precipitation. Those conditions have the potential to cause severe storms throughout the year. At this time though, Wix said the conditions are ideal for typical summer-time pop-up showers and storms.
