Your grass has already been telling you that it's getting really dry and doing so quickly. The US Drought Monitor shows rapid expansion and strengthening of the drought in Kentucky with the 'moderate drought' jumping over 25% in just one week and now includes most of central and southern Kentucky.
The dryness is really highlighted in areas south of I-64 where the rainfall is roughly a third to 2/3 of normal over the last month. With as hot as we've been, we're losing a tremendous amount of moisture from not only the ground, but from plants as well.
The heat really has been impressive. Today was Lexington's 12th 90 degree day. This is the first time our count of 90s got into double digits since 2012 and the most we've had since 1988. Both of those were also big drought years, so there is definitely a correlation.
All of these 90 degree days have led to June's high temperatures to be the 8th highest we've recorded in Lexington. What's interesting is that the average temperature doesn't rank nearly as high because our night time lows have been fairly low. This is also a function of the very dry air, hot days and cool nights.
As we look ahead to the 4th of July holiday weekend, the rain chances look impressive. Saturday has the best chance for the most widespread rainfall, so you'll likely need 'Plan B' for a time not only Saturday, but at other points during the weekend. The rain chances will decrease, but still remain decent, all the way through the 4th on Monday. The question will be if we can break the pattern of the last few months of underperforming rain makers. If we can pick up a couple of inches of rain over the next week, we can slow the drought down. If we come in with amounts generally under an inch, then the drought will likely continue to strengthen.
