On the eve of Independence Day we continue to fine tune what looks to be a somewhat stormy forecast ahead at least for part of the holiday. Scattered storms look to bubble during the afternoon hours impacting parades, picnics, barbecues, and even those early evening fireworks shows. Any storm that does form could pack a punch with heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail, and even brief gusts of wind. For that reason the Storm Prediction Center has highlighted the area in a "Marginal Risk" for severe weather for the July 4th holiday.
Timing of the storms and overall placement will be hard to nail down since the air mass above is very static. Like the last few days storms will pop up quickly but diminish slowly since there is no defined energy source to push them along. This pattern unfortunately will remain through the holiday weekend ahead with a bit of a break Friday before higher chances Saturday and Sunday as weak front rolls through.
So if your planning on heading to a parade or fireworks show just keep an eye to the sky or to our free WMAR2News mobile weather app for the latest information. Have a "Plan B" ready to go for "When The Thunder Roars To Head Indoors." Even if you don't see a storm you still wanna plan for oppressive heat. High temperature on both the 4th of July and Friday will be right around 90 degrees with feel like numbers close to 100. Stay hydrated with plenty of fluids and don't forget the sunblock since a sunburn is likely to occur in less than 20 minutes this time of year.
A little relief is on the way by early next week. High temperatures will return to much more seasonable levels in the mid to upper 80s underneath mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. Rain chances will also go down as long range trends for the next 8-14 days suggest normal precipitation and temperatures into mid July.
