textproduct: Jackson

KEY MESSAGES

- Temperatures climb through Thursday, while humidity gradually increases heading into the weekend.

- A slow moving front will likely bring showers and stray thunderstorms to the area from Friday afternoon into the weekend until a secondary boundary passes through ahead of the new work week.

UPDATE

Issued at 725 AM EDT WED SEP 30 2026

No significant changes were made to the forecast with mainly just the inclusion of the latest obs and trends for the T/Td/Sky grids. These minor adjustments have been sent to the NDFD and web servers along with a freshening of the zones.

LONG TERM

(Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 345 AM EDT WED SEP 30 2026

The extended period opens Thursday evening with a weak surface ridge over the Southeast CONUS with a ~1020 mb surface high over the Southeast beneath a strong upper-level high centered over the Southeast coastline. Further upstream, an upper-level closed low will be rapidly dampening into an upper trough over the Central Plains while another upper low develops in vicinity of the Western TX Panhandle Friday. Recent LREF runs have trended noticeably more amplified with this pattern, deepening the southwestern low while strengthening the ridge over the Eastern US. This enhanced downstream ridge and strong southerly warm-air advection (WAA) across the Ohio Valley account for the warming pre-frontal temperatures in recent guidance, supporting highs across Eastern Kentucky in the mid to upper 80s on Thursday and upper 70s to mid 80s on Friday.

An initial cold front will sink eastward toward the Commonwealth on Friday, drawing rich Gulf moisture up the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and bringing an increasing coverage of showers and a few embedded thunderstorms. As the southern-stream upper trough opens up and the surface boundary stalls near the Ohio River/Appalachians, shower and thunderstorm chances will linger across Eastern Kentucky through Saturday. Temperatures will cool into the mid 60s to mid 70s on Saturday under persistent cloud cover and intermittent rain.

A secondary northern-stream trough will dig into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Sunday morning, pushing a reinforcing cold front through the region and steadily lowering rain chances from northwest to southeast through Sunday afternoon and evening (highs in the lower 70s). However, as the main trough axis slowly sweeps across the Appalachians, isolated shower chances could remain along the KY-TN and KY-VA borders through Sunday evening. Drier continental high pressure takes full control by Monday morning, shutting off any remaining precipitation. While daytime temperatures remain pleasant in the mid 60s to low 70s Monday and Tuesday, clear skies and light winds Monday night will allow cooler lows in the 40s to return to the area.

AVIATION

(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Thursday morning) ISSUED AT 740 AM EDT WED SEP 30 2026

High pressure centered east of the Commonwealth will keep mainly VFR conditions and light winds the rule through the period. The caveat will be late night and early morning valley fog that may bring MVFR to localized IFR to VLIFR conditions, though it is not expected to impact any of the TAF sites. Winds will favor a south to southwesterly direction at 5 to 8 kts after 15Z.

JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.