Tracking sun, warmth, and a chance for severe weather Friday
TODAY: Wednesday will be another warm and dry day. Temperatures in the north will reach to near 70, while temperatures along I-70 and south will climb to mid-70s to near 80 this afternoon. Expect a northeast wind north of I-70, with a southerly wind to the south of I-70. This is thanks to a stalled boundary from yesterday that remains across the region. Skies are partly cloudy, but dry with the boundary present.
TONIGHT: A low will pass to our south tonight, but we'll likely stay dry. It largely weakens, and we'll see south winds begin to overtake the region on Thursday.
EXTENDED: Starting Thursday, we'll see more sunshine and south wind warm us into the upper 70s, if not near 80. If we can get some instability to develop, some guidance is hinting at an isolated thunderstorm developing Thursday evening along somewhat of a developing warm front as south winds intensify. For now the chance is low, but we'll keep an eye on this. Clouds will be something to watch as well, with our lunar eclipse beginning around 11 p.m. Thursday, peaking around 2 a.m. Friday. We may still get breaks in the clouds, so all hope isn't lost for viewing. We start Friday warm, with south winds and lows in the mid-50s. By Friday afternoon, we'll have temperatures near 80 under mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. We will be tracking a strong area of low pressure that will have southwest sustained winds around 20 mph, with gusts higher than 30 at times. This low will bring a dry line into the region, which you can think of as a cold front. In this case, it will act like one, initiating thunderstorms in our western counties. As these storms progress east, the ambient environment will become more favorable for storms. As this strong area of low pressure will be very dynamic with great mechanics for storms, it won't take much fuel for these storms to become severe. We'll be monitoring a threat for damaging wind, hail, and spin-up tornadoes to materialize quickly with these storms. It is likely that a line of storms with damaging winds will be our greatest concern. This line will likely exit the region by 7-8 p.m., so we won't have to stay up all night monitoring these storms. We expect Friday to be an ABC17 Stormtrack Weather Alert Day, so stay tuned for more information coming soon. A secondary front will cool us down behind this system. Dropping highs into the 50s Saturday and Sunday.
