Scattered thunderstorms Wednesday night into Thursday

 The summer-like temperature trend has been prevalent as of late, with afternoon highs in the low to mid-80s. Under the influence of high pressure, we have remained dry so far. But as the high pressure moves away Wednesday evening, thunderstorm chances will be on the rise into Thursday.

A cold front will slide our direction from the North Wednesday evening, producing scattered thunderstorms across Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. As that cold front slides Southward later in the day, a few storms may reach our Southern Wisconsin counties after 7-8PM. Most of the Stateline may remain dry until later in the night.

The strongest of the storms may pose a risk for some gusty winds and heavy rain, but in an isolated to scattered fashion. Given the later evening timing for us locally across the Stateline, our overall risk for severe weather will not be as high as areas to the North where storms will be more numerous during the daytime. Portions of Southern Wisconsin are under a Level 1/5 Marginal risk for severe storms.

As the cold front settles South of us for Thursday, additional thunderstorms may remain possible. Similar to Thursday, it will not be very widespread for everyone. A remnant wave from previous day's storms may help to enhance thunderstorm coverage across Central Illinois, leaving us a bit more isolated across far Northern Illinois.

Still, the strongest storms may pose a risk for some gusty winds. Much of Illinois is under a Level 1/5 Marginal risk, which stretches up into parts of the Stateline. There will be lots of dry time Thursday, but the strongest storms may still bring a risk for heavy rainfall as well. Areas that saw heavy rainfall over the last week or two may need to be especially cautious for flash flooding potential.

A few isolated storms may persist into Friday as the cold front stalls just South of the area. Temperatures will only reach back into the low 80s as a result. The next round of high pressure takes over by the weekend, drying things out. Following that high pressure, another increase in humidity will arrive early next week.