It's Thursday, and that means we have an update to the drought monitor. The soaking rain earlier this week was beneficial, but as expected not a drought buster.
Overall there has been some improvement to the drought across Kentucky. The total area impacted by some level of drought has dropped from 100% last week to 97% this week. The area of extreme drought has shrank over southeastern Kentucky from 4% to just 1%. Now nearly 50% of the Commonwealth is experiencing a moderate drought, including most of Bluegrass and southern counties.
Lexington received 2.46" between Sunday and Monday. That was enough rain to even up the 30-day rainfall deficit. The deficit has also decreased across the area. The dry conditions extend beyond the last 30 days. We will need more days of soaking rain to completely make up for the weeks of dry weather.
There is a little more rain heading our way to the start the weekend. A mighty winter storm is brewing across the northern tier of the US. The cold front will weaken by the time it reaches the Commonwealth Friday night. A few showers and thundershowers are still possible through the first half of Saturday. The bigger story with this front will be the dramatic drop of temperature. Highs will go from the lower 80s on Friday to near 60° on Saturday. There will even be some frosty patches Sunday morning.
