Metro Detroit weather: Hot, muggy days are here!

Thunderstorm chances through the weekend

As expected, a warmer, more humid air mass has overspread the area, and I’m sure you noticed the difference when you stepped outside today.  As I mentioned yesterday, some of you undoubtedly will consider flipping on the air conditioning after a day or two of this!  Air conditioning in May?  Yep.

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Tonight will feature partly cloudy skies, with the possibility for a shower or thunderstorm, although this afternoon’s computer models aren’t suggesting any organized or significant weather overnight.  It’ll be warm and muggy, with lows only in the mid 60s (that 18° Celsius for our Canadian brothers and sisters across the river).  A very light south wind won’t help much, either, if you’ll have the windows open hoping for a nice breeze to help you sleep.

Warm and humid on Thursday, with a scattered thunderstorm possible from mid-afternoon through early evening.  Not everybody will get rain (which we really need), but the thunderstorm risk is there so keep an eye on things by watching the radar on the free Local4Casters weather app.  Just search in the app store under WDIV…it’s right there.  Also, if you haven’t already, you may want to follow me on Twitter at @PGLocal4 and @Local4Casters to get updates.  Highs Thursday in the mid 80s (30° Celsius).  South wind at 8 to 13 mph.

Thursday’s sunrise is at 6:03 a.m., and Thursday’s sunset is at 8:58 p.m.

As I explained in yesterday’s article, warm and humid air will stay with us right through the weekend.  Even though we’ll have a very unstable atmosphere, remember that we need a trigger to initiate thunderstorms…and the best triggers are fronts.  The problem is that no fronts will be anywhere near us, so I have to monitor very small scale features that could launch some storms…things like weak upper level disturbances and lake breezes…and the models don’t handle those very well.  At this point, it’s fruitless to even try and specifically time the thunderstorm chances Friday through Sunday.  However, always remember that thunderstorms in situations like this are most common during the warmest part of the day, so watch for scattered storms each day and, particularly, each afternoon.  Highs will hold in the mid 80s (29-30° Celsius), with overnight lows in the upper 60s (20° Celsius).

As for Memorial Day, today’s models are suddenly showing the possibility of a cold front swinging by.  I’m not comfortable with big changes like this, so I won’t hang my hat on this yet.  However, I am compelled to at least mention that we have a thunderstorm chance on the holiday.  Highs should still reach the mid 80s (29° Celsius), and the humidity will still be with us.