DETROIT – If you’ve lived here long enough, you know the drill by now: When it gets this hot and humid, eventually we’ll stare down the barrel of a severe storm threat, and today’s that day.
UPDATE: SE Michigan under severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m.
As expected, we’ve remained pretty quiet through the morning hours. A few of us have had a shower go through, but most of us have remained dry. Nothing has changed in terms of our severe storm threat.
As we move through the afternoon, scattered thunderstorms are possible, followed by more widespread storms later this afternoon and this evening, with 60 mph wind gusts being the primary severe weather hazard.
Any scattered storms that pop this afternoon ahead of the larger area of storms will develop in a more favorable wind environment (i.e., more wind shear as you head aloft), so those storms also bring the potential for one-inch hail, and a low tornado threat. But, again, as the larger batch of storms develops and approaches the area, the threat transitions to mainly a straight-line wind threat.
This is the day to make sure your weather radio is on, with a backup battery just in case the power goes out, and to check the radar often on our free Local4Casters app. If you don’t have the app, it’s easily downloadable from the app store -- just search under WDIV.
Also be sure to follow us on Twitter at @PGLocal4 and @Local4Casters. Finally, while you’re at work, remember that we livestream our newscasts on ClickOnDetroit.com -- you can watch Local 4 News to get the latest on developing weather events during the day. I’ll update you at noon, and Ben Bailey at 4:00 p.m.
It will be another oppressively humid day, with highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees (31 to 32 degrees Celsius), and a south-southwest wind increasing to 10 to 20 mph this afternoon.
Today’s sunrise was at 6:31 a.m., and today’s sunset is at 8:46 p.m.
Monday night weather forecast
Potentially severe thunderstorms should end this evening, with just a few showers possible the remainder of the night. Lows in the low 70s (21 to 22 degrees Celsius).
Primary Election Day forecast
Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with scattered showers possible -- the best chance is in the afternoon. A few of us might even see a thunderstorms -- especially south of 8 Mile.
Cooler, with highs in the low to mid 80s (28 to 29 degrees Celsius). Regardless of the weather, we need to reverse the trend of more than half of our southeast Michigan population not voting in primaries and get to the polls.
Voting is not a right -- there is nothing in the law that says we HAVE TO vote. Rather, voting is a privilege. There are a lot of people around the world that don’t have that privilege, but a lot of Americans take that privilege for granted. Whether you like or don’t like the decisions our politicians make, voting gives you the opportunity to affirm or change those making the decisions.
GET OUT AND VOTE.
The rest of next week's weather forecast
Things are now a little uncertain for Wednesday and Thursday, with some sunshine both days, but also a scattered shower and thunderstorm chance (especially Thursday as a cold front swings down across the state). As long as that front clears the area by late Thursday night, we’ll be dry on Friday.
At this point, the upcoming weekend looks dry, but even that is not certain now due to some nebulous weather pattern suggestions among some of the computer models.
Regardless, temperatures from Wednesday through the weekend look pretty stable, with highs generally in the mid 80s (29 degrees Celsius), and overnight lows generally in the mid 60s (17 to 18 degrees Celsius).
Don’t Forget!
This weekend is the annual Perseid Meteor Shower! Stay tuned for details!