Rain moves in midday Thursday; Storm system lasts through Friday

High temperatures today finally returned closer to normal for mid-October. Highs reached 54 degrees in Alpena, 55 degrees in Saginaw, Mich., and 59 degrees in Chicago. Temperatures will climb slowly tomorrow, becoming warmest in the late-evening.

Morning temperatures will be in the lower to middle 40s. A warm front will lift northward through our area. It will take until the late-evening for temperatures to climb above 50 degrees. Temperatures will keep getting warmer Thursday night into early Friday. Highs will reach the lower 60s prior to a cold front that will move across Northern Michigan Friday midday.

With each front, there will be a round of rain. A first round of rain will begin as scattered showers Thursday midday, ahead of a warm front moving in from the south. Rainfall will become more soaking late-day, and a risk of thunderstorms will increase in the evening.

There could be a break in the action late Thursday night to early Friday. Then Friday’s cold front will bring another round of rain (and a risk of thunderstorms) Friday morning-afternoon.

Thursday: rain will begin around midday and a risk of thunderstorms will arrive in the evening. Predawn temperatures will start in the upper 30s. Afternoon temperatures will climb to the upper 40s. Nighttime temperatures will rise above 50 degrees.

Friday: Rain and thunderstorms in the morning-afternoon. Winds will become stronger, out of the northwest in the afternoon-evening. Predawn temperatures will rise to the upper 50s. Temperatures will peak in the lower 60s during the late-morning. Following the cold front, temperatures will fall to the 40s by suppertime.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy. Predawn temperatures will drop to the lower 30s. It will remain cool throughout the afternoon with highs in the middle 40s.