Watching Friday for the risk of strong/severe storms

Friday could bring some strong to severe storms as the evening rolls around, so it is the day to stay weather-aware this week. High temperatures returned to the 80s today & we continue to warm up each day this week - mid to upper 80s Thursday, and upper 80s/low 90s expected on Friday. Friday will be the hottest, windiest, and most humid day this week: feels like the low to mid 90s accompanied by a southerly breeze about 10-20mph. Rain chances are expected to hold off until late afternoon/early evening on Friday - which gives us an overnight storm chance Friday night. It’s a quick window for storms as most of the rain comes to an end early Saturday morning. The strongest storms Friday may contain gusty winds and large hail, and heavy rainfall.

It’s all quiet until Friday around 4 PM when isolated pop-up storms could form near and west of I-35 mid-afternoon and linger later into the day. At the same time, the front will be approaching from the north and will keep the atmosphere unsettled. The afternoon round of storms should zap some energy out of the atmosphere ahead of the approaching front, but the front should continue to kick up scattered showers and storms as it moves through overnight. By daybreak Saturday, the front should be completely clear of our area. Storms forming ahead of the front likely contains large hail, strong wind gusts, and maybe a stray tornado. The front itself also carries a wind gust and hail risk with a lower tornado potential. Heavy rain is possible with any of the thunderstorms that could produce over an inch of rain, but most should see less than a quarter-inch of rain.

This weekend is really nice with high temperatures in the upper 70s/low 80s. Overnight temperatures drop to the low 60s. There still may be enough moisture lingering around the state to kick up showers and storms Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and evening into early next week, but most of this rain should stay out of our area.

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