Friday afternoon weather update

The line of showers from earlier this morning have fizzled, just as expected, and this has left us with mainly clear skies and rising temperatures.  Highs this afternoon will be in the low to mid 90s with the heat index between 100° and 106°.  An approaching cold front will bring an end to the heat and humidity for the weekend but could also bring a few strong storms by mid to late afternoon. 

We remain under a slight risk for severe storms this afternoon simply because the cold front will be moving into a fairly unstable air mass thanks to the heat and moisture that has been building all week.  While the instability will continue to rise at the surface winds aloft don't necessarily support a major severe weather event for this afternoon due to the lack of wind shear.  The stronger winds aloft remain north of the area and north of the cold front.  Either way, isolated storms may begin to develop around 3pm in southern Wisconsin and drift south into Illinois by mid-afternoon.  Storms that do develop will be capable of producing damaging wind gusts with a limited hail threat.  In addition to strong winds, storms will also be capable of producing heavy rainfall due to the high amount of moisture in the atmosphere and the likely slow movement of the storms.  We'll continue with updates, as needed, through the afternoon so be sure to keep checking back!