Storm chances move out well before holiday celebrations get underway

Mother nature is bringing a few fireworks of her own for the 4th. Thankfully, these will be non-severe and will be done well before the time any festivities and celebrations get underway. 

A glimpse at radar shows a non-severe cluster of storms slowly sweeping through areas to the northwest of Madison. Forecast models show this cluster progressing southeastward into southern Wisconsin, southeast Wisconsin, and northern Illinois between sunrise and 10-11AM. If anything, they will be capable of winds up to 50 mph, small-sized hail, and heavy downpours. 

Once this activity fizzled out, clouds will decrease, turning skies partly cloudy for the afternoon. It's at this point in the holiday where the heat and humidity become the bigger headline. Both the partial sunshine and afternoon southwesterly breeze will push temperatures back into the 90s. Combine that with dew points in the upper 60s and low 70s and you get heat indices in the 94° to 98° range. So while you are out and about celebrating the 4th this afternoon and evening, practice heat safety.

Not much relief moves for the start of the weekend as temperatures remain in the low 90s. This is all ahead of a cold front that is scheduled to sweep through late Saturday night into Sunday morning. With this front will be the chance for a few storms, mainly during the Saturday evening and Saturday night time frame. One or two may be strong to severe. If any thunderstorm were to become severe, damaging winds and large hail would be the primary concerns.