Weather: What a beautiful day in metro Detroit!

How long will it last? What about the weekend?

DETROIT – Abundant sunshine, temperatures in the mid 70s, low humidity, and a light breeze all combined to make for a spectacular August afternoon!

The puffy fair-weather cumulus clouds you saw pop up this afternoon will quickly shrivel up by sunset, leaving us with a mostly clear evening. We'll keep clear skies well into the night, but some high-level cirrus clouds may overspread part of the area late at night and, if they do, then we could be in for a gorgeous Thursday morning sunrise. Lows in the upper 50s (15° Celsius for our friends across the river). Northeast wind at 3 to 6 mph.

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Some computer models suggest that the cirrus clouds we see later tonight make thicken into a more opaque bank of high-level clouds, but other models keep us mostly sunny to start our Thursday. Regardless of what happens with the overnight cirrus, those should move out by late morning, and most of the day should be mostly sunny. Highs in the mid to upper 70s (25° Celsius), with a northeast wind at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday's sunrise is at 6:31 AM, and Thursday's sunset is at 8:47 PM.

Partly cloudy Friday night (some models suggest a few light showers, but others keep us dry). Lows in the low 60s.

Partly cloudy on Saturday, with highs in the low 80s.

Partly cloudy Saturday night, with lows in the mid 60s.

And now, here's an encouraging change to the Sunday forecast:

Today's computer models are slowing the arrival of our next rain chance, and it appears that we may just salvage the daytime hours! This is still a bit tenuous, but the trends certainly point in our favor. Obviously, the trends can change, so stay with me and I'll update you tomorrow. Highs in the low to mid 80s.

The computer models are in great disagreement on the evolving upper air patterns for early next week. Some models (such as the GFS and CMC), give us a rain chance Monday morning, dry us out during the afternoon, and then keep us dry on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the normally reliable ECMWF model has an entirely different look to the upper air pattern, and actually brings in most of the rain on Tuesday. It's going to take a couple of days to figure all of this out. But one thing that does look clear is a cool down for midweek (highs in the 70s), and then a nice warm-up for the end of next week (back into the 80s).