Humidity sticks around with scattered storms Thursday

 It felt closer to 100° than it did 90° through much of Wednesday afternoon, with a very hot and humid air mass centered overhead. Overnight, temperatures won't fall very far -- only back to the mid 70s for overnight lows. The heat advisory will be allowed to expire late this evening for Southern Wisconsin and Northeastern Illinois.

The warm start to the day tomorrow will kick off another hot and humid afternoon, with highs approaching 90° once again. This time around, scattered storms will be possible through the afternoon and evening. The storms may bring a little bit of relief from the heat and humidity as a cold front pushes through by late evening. But it may still feel near 100° with heat index factored in.

Storms will be mostly isolated in nature, with the first chances arriving toward daybreak and another chance by mid-day. These storms may produce some gusty winds and quick downpours, but should remain below severe limits.

Better coverage of storms will arrive Thursday afternoon into the evening, mainly after 2-3PM. These storms may produce a few instances of damaging wind gusts and some very heavy rainfall. Storms will gradually diminish in coverage into the late evening as the cold front pushes South. If storms get going earlier in the day, temperatures may not quite make it to 90°, especially for those North and West of Freeport.

For the low-end threat of a few gusty thunderstorms, the Storm Prediction Center has placed the Stateline under a Level 1/5 Marginal risk. The chances for large hail or a tornado is very low in this setup, so damaging winds will be the main concern.

Another threat with these storms will be heavy rainfall. With very abundant moisture aloft and a slow-moving cold front, storms may be able to produce rainfall rates above 1" per hour. If those storms track over the same area multiple times, flash flooding could be a concern. There is a slight risk for flash flooding criteria to be met across much of the Stateline Thursday.

Isolated thunderstorms may be possible again Friday and early Saturday with a bit of a cool-down. Highs will return to the mid-80s