Rising heat and humidity, storms possible Thursday

As we've seen countless times this week, quiet skies and calm surface winds overnight have led to the formation of patchy morning fog. 

Right now, the lowest visibility is being reported up in Rock and Walworth Counties. If you plan on being out on the roads this morning, use caution and be prepared for changes in visibility.

 

Fog, along with any lingering wildfire smoke, should depart as the morning progresses thanks to our surface winds becoming more organized out of the southeast. Underneath hazy skies, afternoon highs will climb into the low to mid 80s. Along with the small uptick in temperatures will come a small climb in humidity, leaving dew points temperatures in the mid 60s. Nothing too terrible just yet.

Conditions remain dry overnight with temperatures falling into the mid 60s. The heat and humidity will be a bit more noticeable Thursday and Friday as afternoon highs end up closer to the 90° mark and dew points surge into the 70s. This will leave heat indices in the low to mid 90s. 

 

  

A weak system sliding over the heat dome over the southwest U.S will slightly enhance our chance for rain and storms Thursday evening. There still remains question marks as to whether the atmospheric ingredients will be enough to support a low chance for strong to severe storms. 

In their latest round of severe outlooks, the Storm Prediction Center took the Stateline out of the Marginal Risk, leaving the area under a "general thunderstorm" risk. Meaning, if we do see thunderstorms Thursday, the odds of them becoming severe are extremely low. Damaging winds and heavy downpours would be the biggest concern with any strong to severe storm.