WKU Meteorology

Good morning Hilltoppers! I hope you find a way to stay cool this week as we are looking at another heatwave to impact the region this week. However, for today, there will be a brief respite from the heat, as high temperatures will likely be in the upper 80s to perhaps right around 90 degrees. This is thanks to a brief cool front that came through yesterday evening, mainly switching the wind direction. Lows will be in the lower 70s. Winds will be out of the northeast this morning, becoming more easterly as the day progresses at around 5-10 mph.

Unfortunately, another ridge of high pressure will continue to amplify right overhead and contribute to some meaningful heat as we progress throughout the rest of the work and school week. By Tuesday, highs will already be in the upper 90s. A cold front will be approaching from the northwest up in the Midwest, but will be unsuccessful until we approach beyond next weekend and into next week. As a result, we will likely continue with several more days with 90 degree temperatures until next weekend.

Rain chances will likely hold off until next weekend at the earliest until the ridge begins to fully break down.

Happy Friday y’all, hopefully everyone has had a great week and staying dry this morning as the rain is starting to move past our area. The rain will likely stop at around 9am local time, however, it won’t be gone for long. There will be more thunderstorms late tonight as a stationary front is just west of us. Storm Prediction Center has our area highlighted in a thunderstorm risk with a marginal risk just south of Bowling Green. During the day will look like most other days so far this week, just a little bit more wet on the ground. Highs will get up to 88 but will fall down to 72 tonight as the storms cool us down, and dew points to stay in the low 70s, it will still feel wet as you go outside today.

Saturday will also bring more rain to Kentucky and Tennessee, with showers in the morning similar to how it is today. Sunday we will return to drier hotter conditions as a high-pressure system from Canada will move the moist air away from us. Saturday’s high will be around 84 while Sunday’s will rise to 88, and both days are forecasted to have a low of 67 degrees.

Wednesday Forecast

Hello everyone! Today’s high is going to reach 93 here and Bowling Green and hang around the low to mid 90s across the rest of the state and the Mid-South. For our low tonight, in Bowling Green, we expect a low around 75, and the mid to upper 70s for the rest of us. Today is going to be another hot, and muggy day. At the time of writing this, the current dewpoint according to the KYMesonet site in southern Warren County is 70.6 F. The current heat index is 97.4 F. A heat advisory is in effect from Madison, IN, which is northeast of Louisville, all the way to Nashville, and extends west into western Tennessee, and Kentucky. Heat indecis can reach 100+ F today.

A marginal risk for severe weather exists today for northern, and western Kentucky. Wind is the main hazard with this risk. A small line of showers is beginning to fire northwest of Paducah, and they will continue tracking west. Rain chances will increase for the aforementioned region later on today. The large area of high pressure covering the southern half of the United States could break down over our region just enough for a small shortwave to develop, and lift some of the hot, humid air over us, which would be enough to allow for some showers and storms later today.

Thursday Forecast

Thursday is going to be cooler than today, following a frontal passage. Highs tomorrow will stay around the mid to upper 80s, and lows will dig into the mid 70s. So thankfully, for some of us, we will see some relief from the humidity at some point tomorrow. More spotty showers and storm are expected throughout tomorrow across parts of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Unfortunately, this shake up will not keep the heat at bay completely. The heat will likely build back up across the Mid-South late this weekend, and into the beginning of the work week next week.

Have a great Wednesday, and Thursday!

Good morning everyone, and welcome back from the long weekend! Today will be another mostly sunny day with a high temperature around 91°F in the early afternoon and a low around 74°F nearing midnight. A trace of precipitation is possible between 9AM and 6PM. Southerly winds should sustain around 8 miles per hour with gusts reaching up to 20 miles per hour.

Unlike last week’s sustained temperatures, today should be more manageable due to the wind and partial cloud cover. However, the heat index is still expected to reach near 100 degrees with a WBGT over 80 degrees. Compared to how yesterday felt, the significant difference is the moisture quality! A cold front moving south followed by high pressure briefly put Bowling Green under 60 degree dewpoint temperatures.

This morning, the wind flow reversed direction and began advecting moist air back north over Kentucky. Shallow instability with spotty showers will be likely. The main surface driver for this is from a ~1024 millibar high pressure system moving east off the coast of North Carolina governed by a strong (<1000 millibar) low pressure system moving through Ontario, Canada. The resulting pressure gradient force is what we feel as wind near the surface!

That’s your forecast breakdown for today; have a nice Tuesday!

Good morning Hilltoppers! I hope you are having a good long weekend. While we are going to be seeing a slight reprieve from the extreme levels of heat that we have been seeing in previous weeks, we are still looking at highs reaching about 90 degrees today. However, it will feel more comfortable compared to how it felt last week due to the fact that winds will be coming from the northeast at around 5-10 mph, lowering the humidity overall. Overnight lows will still be around 70 degrees tonight.

Looking ahead to next week, the heat will unfortunately build once again as the ridge that we have been under will shift towards us again. Highs will continue to climb to the low 90s by Tuesday and perhaps the mid-90s on Wednesday. However, the humidity will continue to build and by Thursday we could be looking at a cold front to bring us much needed relief. This will come in the form of showers and thunderstorms, but it’s too early to tell whether or not we will be looking at any severe weather.

Beyond that, expect a return to more seasonable conditions by next weekend with the possibility of more rain chances, mainly on Saturday.

Today’s Forecast

Happy Friday to everyone, the weekend is almost here. Unfortunately for us the heat will not being going away soon. Temperatures for the area are predicted to reach to a high of 99 and the low will fall to 72 tonight. we are still being dominated by the high pressure currently over us of around 1016 mb. Dew point temperatures this morning are already in the low 70s and will peak around 76 later today. Because of these high temps and high humidity, we are under a heat advisory, and some parts of Kentucky are under an extreme heat warning. Thus, everyone should limit their time outside, if you have to be outside for longer periods of time make sure to hydrate continuously, wear clothes to protect yourself from the sun, and wear sunscreen.

Eastern parts of Kentucky will likely have rain and possible storms as the cluster of severe thunderstorms pass form the great lakes over Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. This will occur over tonight and tomorrow. Some models like the GFS predict that some storms could stray our way, however most of the ensembles have the storm staying on track to mover over eastern Kentucky and finishing as south as North Carolina.

As for the weekend we will see very similar weather that we have been experiencing all week. Outside will continue to feel awful as the temps stay in the high 80s to 90s, and as the high pressure keeps feeding moisture into the south. Plan for a hot and humid Labor Day weekend and stay safe if you plan to be outside for long periods of time.

Today’s Forecast

Happy Wednesday everyone. We have reached the halfway point in this sweltering work week. Unfortunately, that heat is not going away any time soon. Today, our high today will reach 97, and our low tonight will dip to 82 later tonight. No precipitation is expected today either, as that 1018-1020 mb high pressure center is currently sitting over portions of southeastern Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee.

Dewpoints will reach the mid and upper 60s, and even low 70s today, adding on that muggy, moist air that everyone loves to an already hot day. Parts of the midsouth are littered with heat advisories. In Kentucky, from Owensboro, west, an extreme heat warning is in effect until Saturday at 8:00 pm where head index values could reach up to 110. For the rest of Tennessee, and Kentucky, just because you are not included in that extreme heat warning, heat index values can still reach as high as 105-107 over these next few days. If you would be out working in this heat, or for any other reason, make sure to drink plenty of fluids, and stay in the shade as much as you can.

National Weather Headlines

In national news, Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall yesterday at 2:20 pm CDT near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana. The maximum sustained winds tracked at 60 mph, and the pressure at landfall was 996 mb. I will leave the link to the advisory at landfall down below for more details. This storm was one of very few that have formed in the Atlantic this year. However, the pacific has been extremely active. This is due to an expected historic El Niño that is taking shape in the Pacific right now.

Stay safe and stay cool during this extremely hot stretch.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2026/al05/al052026.update.09011924.shtml

Good morning everyone and happy first day of September! I hope everyone has been staying cool because the heat will continue to persist through the rest of the week! Today will be another scorching sunny day with a high around 96 degrees Fahrenheit and a low dipping to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. No precipitation is expected, and southwesterly sustained winds will reach around 5 miles per hour.

The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), an index used for measuring the heat stress we feel in direct sunlight, is expected to reach up to 87 degrees Fahrenheit. These indices– typically any beyond 85 degrees Fahrenheit for our region– pose an elevated risk for any prolonged outdoor activities: stay hydrated and seek shaded areas!

These high temperatures persist due to a ~1020 millibar high pressure system stalling over the Mid-South and Appalachia regions. The high pressure ventilation allows for the slow, continuous transport of well-mixed air from the southeast region of the United States into Kentucky and neighboring areas. Given the stability and the lack of upper-level steering, this pattern will continue to persist across our region.

Source: https://perryweather.com/resources/what-is-wbgt-and-how-do-you-calculate-it/

Today’s Forecast

Good morning everyone! I hope your Monday is off to a good start. This week we will continue to see the heat build as a ridge of high pressure amplifies. So, make sure you continue to practice heat safety throughout the week by staying well hydrated and wear light, loose fit clothing. As compared to previous heatwaves this past summer, while the humidity won’t be quite as intense, or unbearable levels that resemble a sauna or “Tropical” like levels of humidity, it will still remain elevated with dewpoints in the 60s each afternoon. With that said, actual air temperatures are expected to reach around 95 degrees today with lows around 70 degrees with mostly sunny conditions, but will likely exceed that by the middle of the week. By mid-week, a few locations could see air temperatures reach 100 degrees.

In terms of how it will actually feel, the heat index could reach as high as around 100 degrees today, with values ranging between 100-105 degrees Tuesday-Thursday.

No rain is expected today and throughout most of this week, but rain chances could return by Friday, where we could be looking at a few showers and storms.

Happy Friday everyone! Western Kentucky University’s final week is this upcoming week and then so will be graduation! So watch out for graduation traffic and students moving out. This week should be a another week of warm temperatures and sunny skies. We are less than a month out from Memorial Day weekend. Let us take a look at the forecast for the week ahead.

Friday, April 26th (Night): Clear skies with a temperature cooling to a low of 71°F. Winds will be light and variable.

Saturday, April 27th: The day will be partly cloudy with a high of 82°F. As the evening approaches, expect the temperature to cool to 64°F under partly cloudy skies. Winds will be from the SSE at 10 to 20 mph.

Sunday, April 28th: Sunshine and clouds mixed during the day, with the temperature reaching a high of 84°F. The night will see clear skies with a few passing clouds, cooling down to 67°F. Winds will be from the S at 5 to 10 mph.

Monday, April 29th: The morning starts mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. The high will be around 83°F. Rain and thunderstorms will continue into the night, with an early rain leading to thunderstorms developing late, cooling to a low of 62°F.

Tuesday, April 30th: Showers in the morning will give way to partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. The temperature will rise to a high of 79°F. The night will be mostly clear with a low of 57°F. Winds will be light and variable.

Wednesday, May 1st: The day will start with a few clouds, otherwise mostly sunny, reaching a high of 86°F. The night will remain mostly clear with a low of 61°F. Winds will be light and variable.

Thursday, May 2nd: Partly cloudy skies with a stray shower or thunderstorm possible. The high will be around 86°F. Overcast skies with showers at times during the night, with a low near 66°F. Winds from the S at 5 to 10 mph.

Friday, May 3rd: Scattered thunderstorms throughout the day, with a high of 78°F. Winds will be from the SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.