Rain will hold off until after Thunder

Heavy rain headed for Louisville should hold off until well after the Thunder Over Louisville fireworks Saturday evening, weather forecasters say.

With precipitation not due to arrive until around 2 a.m. Sunday, the weather for the Saturday afternoon Thunder air show and 9 p.m. fireworks is expected to be nearly ideal, the National Weather Service forecast indicates.

Thunder morning and afternoon should see partly to mostly sunny skies, with early morning temperatures in the 50s, rising to near 80 at mid-afternoon, said weather service meteorologist Ron Steve. The forecast for the evening fireworks is temperatures in the low 70s, with a few clouds around.

Steve said the wind should be out of the east about 10 miles an hour, meaning the smoke from the fireworks should be carried downstream.

The weather should remain calm while the anticipated hundreds of thousands of spectators head home.

Showers will arrive early Sunday morning, persisting with a 90 percent chance of rain into mid-day Sunday, before trailing off in late afternoon. Sunday's high temperature should be in the mid-70s, Steve said.

The Ohio River is expected to crest at 21.7 feet on the upper gauge at McAlpine Dam, sometime Saturday afternoon. That is 1.3 feet below flood stage. Still, at that level, probably about half of Waterfront Park's Great Lawn and all of the Fourth Street wharf will be flooded and off limits for Thunder.

In addition, upriver, Cox and Bandman parks will be sufficiently flooded to be off limits. Some RV parking may be permitted in the upper portion of Bandman, near River Road, the Kentucky Derby Festival said.

The weather service urged boaters coming to Thunder to use extreme caution, because of the swift current and the extensive amount of debris in the river.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.