Today: Wednesday will act as a transitional day for Milwaukee’s weather. Canadian wildfire smoke has been hanging around Wisconsin for about 5 days now, because of strong high pressure, which has now moved off to the east; there is relief in sight. Even though we are getting rid of smoky skies, we trade for another heat wave. Wednesday will start out with some smoky sun due the last of the wildfire smoke flowing in on very light east wind. High temperatures will top out in the low 80’s before skies become cloudy in the afternoon because of a passing low pressure system far off to the southwest of Milwaukee. Furthermore, winds in the afternoon will increase to around 10 mph and begin to turn to the southeast. Dew points will be increasing into the upper 60’s from this southeast wind shift as well. Even though air quality will be improving, the Wisconsin DNR has still issued an Air Quality Alert until noon on Wednesday. Air quality will be in the moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups so, please take precautions if you’re sensitive to air quality conditions. By the evening mostly cloudy skies are on tap with winds which will ease and become calm. Temperatures and dew points will decrease throughout the evening with low temperatures settling in the upper 60’s.
Tonight: With partly cloudy skies, temperatures will decrease throughout the evening with lows settling in the upper 60’s overnight. Dew points will start to increase overnight rising through the lower 60s because of our southeasterly wind. There won’t be much relief from a lake breeze overnight because of wind speeds and direction.
Tomorrow: Skies will be mostly cloudy for the first half of your Thursday. This is due to remnants of a warm front which will impact areas north. While the warm front sweeps through northern Wisconsin, the Milwaukee area will be in between systems, so we will see clouds from the system to the north, but not much precipitation. We can’t rule out an isolated shower during the day due to daytime heating, but a slight chance (20%) will be in the cards. Assuming we stay dry, skies will become partly cloudy throughout the day with high temperatures increasing to the middle 80s with calm southeast winds. Dew points will be on a roller coaster over the day Thursday by starting out in the mid 60’s in the morning then lowering slightly by the afternoon and finally rising again through the evening and overnight back into the upper 60’s. In addition, skies will gradually clear up, but lows only dropping into the low 70’s due to the aforementioned warm front.
Extended: Get ready for a drastic hot and humid stretch of weather this weekend. High temperatures on Friday will soar into the upper 80’s and dew points will also increase during the day settling in the upper 60’s to near 70 degrees. Winds will continue to remain calm and turn from the south. The real heat will be to come on Saturday and Sunday with highs topping out in the lower 90’s. In addition, Saturday and Sunday’s dew points will increase even more ending up in the low 70’s which is down right tropical-like air. These hot and humid temperatures are courtesy of a strong high pressure system located in the center of the country and transported in Wisconsin via the south winds which will continue through Saturday and Sunday with increased speeds gusting 10 to 15 mph. Skies throughout the weekend will be mostly sunny except Sunday night. This is when multiple weak cloud fronts will begin to sneak in behind this high pressure system. It’ll sweep through Wisconsin at the tail end of the weekend, which will increase the storm threat, but it is too early to tell the intensity and coverage of storms. Monitor forecasts regularly by Sunday. Make sure if you have outdoor plans to have a place to cool off and seek air conditioning.
