The National Weather Service is predicting heavy rainfall for the next three days. 2-3 inches have been predicted with a chance of several thunderstorms in the early weekend.
NWS Meteorologist Kelly Hooper said the recent conditions for storms are unusual for this time of year.
“We have the northerly flow out of the Gulf keeping the lower areas of the atmosphere very saturated," said Hooper. "And to top that off we have what we call monsoonal flow coming out of the southwest up through Colorado and then turning eastward through Kansas in the upper levels providing abundant moisture in the atmosphere. Then we have a cold front moving through and stalling on us tonight and tomorrow and that will be the trigger point for the thunderstorms to fire up on and that’s why we’re getting the rain.”
Hooper said there's a chance of training thunderstorms. Training thunderstorms occur when repeated areas of heavy rain move over the same area in quick succession creating a high risk of flash flooding.
“Even though we’re looking at a couple of inches overall for the next 48 hours, you get one good training thunderstorm and it could put down 1 to 2 inches in less than an hour," said Hooper. "Hydroplaning has already caused numerous accidents across the area this week and that’s been the main culprit for motorists.”
Hooper advises motorists to slow down and not drive through flooded areas even if the water doesn’t seem to be moving. The National Weather Service is currently promoting its Don't Drown Turn Around campaign.
The Kentucky State Police linked 30,000 vehicle accidents to wet road conditions in 2011.
