Sunny and pleasant; rain will return next week. Get Bill Steffen's weekend forecast.

Today will be sunny and pleasant, with afternoon temperatures reaching the mid- to upper 70s. We’ll have a gentle southeast-south wind at 5-10 mph.

Here’s the three-day total rainfall. This model doesn’t give us any rain through the weekend, and that’s the most likely scenario. A few of our models have an outside chance of a brief shower between late Saturday and early Sunday.

I have a 20% chance of a shower each weekend day. That’s an 80% chance that we’ll see no measurable rain (trace sprinkles don’t count). There’s a much better chance of rain from Monday night to Wednesday of next week.

There were only 15 severe storm reports on Thursday, 13 in Texas and two in Colby, Kansas (a town mentioned in a John Denver song). Winds hit 87 mph at Colby KS, while 2 1/4” diameter hail pounded Lake Tanglewood TX.

Today, there could be severe thunderstorms from northeast Nebraska through Minnesota and into Canada. Strong thunderstorm wind gusts are possible, along with a few large hail reports and an isolated tornado or two. The level 2 risk is in yellow and the level 1 risk in dark green.

There is also a level 1 risk of a severe storm from northern Mississippi to Virginia.

This is the severe outlook for Saturday afternoon/night. All of Lower Michigan is in the general thunderstorm outlook (in light green on the map). While an isolated thunderstorm is possible, odds are we’ll stay dry.

Here are high temperatures for this Friday in Michigan … generally mid-upper 70s … maybe a couple degrees cooler at Lake Michigan. Readings are expected to be in the upper 70s in northern Lower Michigan and low 80s in the U.P. Manistique only climbs to 72, where a southeast wind will be coming off Lake Michigan.

Here are high temperatures for Saturday: low 80s inland, mid-70s at Lake Michigan, low-mid 70s in the U.P. — another pretty nice day.

The 8-14 day outlook continues to show cooler air coming into the Great Lakes and Northeast around the middle of next week. No really cold air on the way; we’ll cool off to average (highs in the low 70s).

The 8-14 day rainfall outlook shows below average rainfall for the 7 days. Looks like good outdoor weather and good weather for harvest activities. We’ve had more tomatoes this year than any year, and we just finished a watermelon that my daughter grew. She’s got quite a garden.

Five-day forecast

• Friday: Nice with plenty of sunshine. High: 77 degrees. Tonight, partly cloudy, with a low of 63 degrees.
• Saturday: Breezy in the morning; otherwise, humid with sun and some clouds. High: 79 degrees. In the evening, expect partly cloudy skies with humid conditions. Low: 60 degrees.
• Sunday: Shifting clouds and sun with a passing shower or two in the afternoon. High: 74 degrees. In the evening, partly cloudy with a low of 54 degrees.
• Monday: Mainly cloudy with a thunderstorm possible in the afternoon. High: 70 degrees. In the evening, breezy; otherwise, partly to mostly cloudy with a thunderstorm in the area late. Low: 64 degrees.
• Tuesday: Cloudy and humid; breezy in the morning, chance for a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High: 77 degrees. In the evening, cloudy with rain and a thunderstorm, mainly later. Low: 59 degrees.

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