Thursday, April 18: Afternoon thunderstorms ahead of cold front

Temperatures today will be divided with a cold front slicing through the area this afternoon. Spots behind the cold front will be cooler in the 60s while spots ahead of the front will see a chance for making the 80s today. The cold front will also bring in a broken line of thunderstorms, especially to areas east of Highway 65.

Storms along the cold front could become strong to severe. The best timing for thunderstorms is around midday through the early evening, from west to east respectively. Storms west of Highway 65 in the early afternoon will likely remain isolated and will pose a hail and wind threat. Storms east of Highway 65 for the mid to late afternoon will form into a line with wind and hail becoming more widespread.

Hail could be as large as golf balls (isolated) and wind gusts could reach 60 mph.

Behind the storms, the cold front will cause temperatures to drop. Tonight will be in the low 40s with Friday being near normal in the mid-60s. Saturday and Sunday will be below normal around 60°. Rounds of clouds will also fill the skies this weekend.

Next week is shaping up to be fairly mild with temperatures in the mid-60s to low 70s. There are some early signs of rain chances for the middle of next week, but confidence is pretty low in anything developing at this time.

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