Strong winds, hail primary concerns with isolated evening threat

Improvements in the temperature department were quick to spill into the Stateline Thursday, leaving afternoon highs in the low 70s. 

We get a little warmer this afternoon, though another quick-moving disturbance may have a slight impact on your Friday evening plans. First things first, most of the day will be pleasant with plenty of sun early on giving way to a partly cloudy afternoon. Highs will end up closer to the 80° mark. 

The only hiccup in the forecast will be winds as they look to become quite breezy out of the northwest, with gusts hanging near the 30 mph mark. 

Heading into the late afternoon and evening hours, forecast models show this disturbance sliding into the western Great Lakes, sparking up a few storms in the process.  Overall, it looks like the best parameters for strong to severe storms will be east of I-39 in areas closer to Lake Michigan. 

That being said, the Storm Prediction Center continues to keep areas near and east of I-39 in a 1 of 5 Marginal Risk with hail and strong winds being the primary risks. If you have any Friday evening plans such as dinner outside or perhaps heading to City Market, keep an eye on things. Any storm potential won't last long after sunset, leaving us dry with partly cloudy skies into Saturday.

 

Another big headline this weekend is going to be the introduction of wildfire smoke. This will give our sky a bit of a haze but as of now, it looks like most of the smoke will likely remain elevated. This means that this incoming plume shouldn’t have any impacts to our air quality. Just hazy skies. 

This weekend is looking nice as both Saturday and Sunday feature a good deal of sunshine. A backdoor cold front will traverse through the area early in the day Saturday, allowing temperatures to dial back into the mid 70s for the start of the weekend. Thankfully, this cold front will have minimal impacts on temperatures into June as we're right back near that 80° mark. Next, we'll be seeing multiple days in the 80s and with that warmth comes a better shot for storms.