After a night with a few thunderstorms, including a severe storm that caused damage in Dearborn, things have quieted down considerably today. But last night’s storms – yet another night where some of us got one but others didn’t – is a great example of why you need to have a weather radio.
Most of us were asleep when these storms approached, and only that weather radio was going to wake you up if the warning was issued for your area. We’ll be having our third and final Weather Radio Campaign Day of 2016 next week, where you can buy a weather radio at a significantly discounted price. Since we began this program, between 35,000 and 40,000 NOAA Weather Radios have been purchased here in southeast Michigan, and I want that number going higher. I’ll have details a little later in the week, so keep an eye out for my daily weather article every afternoon.
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Clearing skies and less humid air coming in overnight will allow lows to drop into the mid-60s (that’s 18° Celsius for our Canadian friends across the river). Calm air means there won’t be much of a breeze blowing in the windows, unlike last night.
Mostly sunny to partly cloudy on Tuesday, with very comfortable highs in the low 80s (28° Celsius). Light and variable wind means that lake breezes will develop, so those of you near Lake Huron will be cooler. Tuesday’s sunrise is at 6:14 AM, and Tuesday’s sunset is at 9:05 PM.
Mostly clear Tuesday night, with lows in the mid 60s (18° Celsius).
Partly cloudy on Wednesday, with highs in the mid 80s (30° Celsius).
Alright, the rest of the forecast through the weekend can be handled pretty easily by explaining that a large upper level dome of high pressure building over the central part of the country will influence our weather from Thursday through Sunday, bringing a lot of heat and humidity. First, let’s talk about temps: daytime highs will rise into the low to mid 90s (32-35° Celsius) during the period, with overnight lows in the low to mid 70s (21-23° Celsius). Something to keep in mind is that the humidity will make it feel much hotter…perhaps around 100° (38° Celsius), so Heat Advisories may need to be issued later this week. If you have plans that involve strenuous activity, you may want to rethink those plans.
Thunderstorm chances are much more difficult to pin down this far in advance. To try and keep this simple, our thunderstorm potential is going to hinge upon whether we get completely under that big upper level high, or remain near the edge – and this is looking like a very close call right now. If we get under it, then thunderstorms will be minimal. If we remain near the edge, then some of those large overnight clusters of strong storms (I’ve talked about them before, they are called Mesoscale Convective Systems, or MCS) will threaten us each night into the early morning hours. And, these big storm clusters then sometimes create boundaries that trigger mid to late afternoon storms in the warmest part of the day. Forecasting these small details is impossible this far out. So, the best I can tell you right now is that there is a CHANCE of storms Thursday through Sunday, but that large parts of each day will be dry.
One final comment: remember that a heat wave for us is officially designated as three straight days of 90° (32° Celsius) heat, and this looks pretty attainable right now. So the weather police won’t call you out if you tell your friends and family that a heat wave is on the way.
