Pleasant and sunny, with rain returning Tuesday. Get Bill Steffen's forecast

Here’s the Severe Weather Outlook Map for today, Aug. 17. First, no thunderstorms today or tonight in Lower Michigan and most of the Great Lakes.

A level 2 Slight Risk covers Nebraska to southwest Minnesota and eastern Tennessee and North Carolina.

The level 2 Slight Risk Area for Tuesday/Tuesday night is for eastern Nebraska, northern Kansas, northern Missouri and much of Iowa. The level 1 or Marginal Outlook runs from eastern Wyoming east to Lake Michigan.

I think most of Tuesday will be dry, with a chance of a thunderstorm late in the day. The best chance of a storm will likely come Tuesday night.

Here are storm reports from Sunday. That’s quite a “blue blob” in eastern Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia. There were 310 reports of wind damage. Again, lots of trees and power lines down due to strong thunderstorm winds. Once again, there were no tornadoes.

Here’s the two-day total rainfall. Monday/Tuesday look dry in West Michigan. We’ll have a better chance of rain Tuesday evening/night into early Wednesday. Much of the rain will be along the Ohio River and along the East Coast.

Here’s rainfall for the past week, with over a foot of rain in east central Indiana.

Here are high temperatures for today: Upper 70s to low 80s inland and low to mid-70s near Lake Michigan, with mid- to upper 70s in the U.P.

Tuesday, low 80s inland and mid-70s at Lake Michigan.

The 8-to-14-day temperature forecast shows above-average temperatures for much of the country, though I don’t see any extended 90-degree heat waves.

The 8-to-14-day rainfall outlook shows below-average rainfall for the western Great Lakes.

Five-day forecast

• Monday: Partly sunny, with a high of 77 degrees. Tonight, partly cloudy with a low of 66 degrees.
  
• Tuesday: Humid with periods of clouds and sun; a thunderstorm in spots late in the afternoon. High: 80 degrees. In the evening, mostly cloudy and humid with a thunderstorm. Low: 63 degrees.
  
• Wednesday: Partly sunny, pleasant and less humid. High: 79 degrees. Mainly clear. Low: 55 degrees.
• Thursday: Pleasant with plenty of sunshine. High: 78 degrees. In the evening, mainly clear. Low: 59 degrees.
• Friday: Pleasant with plenty of sunshine. High: 78 degrees. In the evening, partly cloudy with a thunderstorm in spots late. Low: 65 degrees.

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