Thunderstorm risk overnight, then brighter by Wednesday afternoon

High temperatures Tuesday soared to 88 degrees in Alpena, 82 degrees in Houghton, Michigan and 86 degrees in Minneapolis. A cold front will bring colder temperatures, although the cold air will lag for a while. Wednesday will feel pleasant, then chilly air will arrive Thursday.

We have four fronts across the Midwest/Great Lakes region. Each front divides one air mass from another. South of the warm front, temperatures reached the 80s and 90s along with higher humidity. Between the warm front and stationary front farther north, temperatures were generally in the 70s.

The first cold front will bring a risk of thunderstorms overnight. Behind the first cold front, temperatures were mainly in the 60s and 70s. The truly cold air is progressing behind the second cold front, where temperatures were in the 40s and 50s.

Future radar shows the greatest likelihood of showers and thunderstorms will move through our area between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. After that, we’ll still see mainly cloudy skies in the morning. Then the cloud cover will clear, and afternoon sunshine will develop.

Winds will pick up out of the northwest Wednesday, becoming breezy at 15-20 mph. Thursday, winds will be lighter, but coming out of the northeast will bring very chilly temperatures.

Wednesday: Showers and thunderstorms possible predawn, then clearing. Early-morning temperatures will head down to \62 degrees. Afternoon highs will get up to to around 74 degrees. Evening temperatures will cool to the 50s.

Thursday: Much colder, starts mainly clear then cloud cover will increase. Predawn temperatures will drop to around 39 degrees. Afternoon highs will reach 54 degrees (nearly 15 degrees below normal). Evening temperatures will head into the upper 40s.

Friday: Cloudy during the daytime, then clearing in the evening. Early-morning temperatures will begin near 40 degrees. Afternoon highs will be close to 54 degrees. Temperatures will fall to the middle 40s later in the evening.

For the rest of Northeast Michigan’s weather forecast, watch the latest weather video by clicking the weather tab at the top of the page.