Forecast for Wednesday, August 26

TODAY: Mother Nature is turning summer back on today. Any patchy morning fog will burn off, leaving us with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid 80s. Humidity will become increasingly noticeable as the day goes on, because apparently the atmosphere heard everyone enjoying those comfortable days and decided that was enough of that.

TONIGHT: Clouds increase with a 40% chance of showers after midnight. Lows only fall into the upper 60s with south winds around 5–10 mph. Translation: the windows probably aren't going to be nearly as enjoyable tonight, and Mother Nature will be getting an early start on Thursday's nonsense.

THURSDAY: This is the day we're watching closely. Showers and thunderstorms are possible during the morning, then become likely during the afternoon with a 70% chance of rain. Some storms could become severe with damaging winds and heavy rainfall. It'll be humid with highs in the mid 80s, and thunderstorms remain possible into Thursday evening.

Lancaster County is sitting squarely in the more concerning part of Thursday's setup. The Level 2 of 5 severe-weather risk has been expanded southward into the Lower Susquehanna Valley, while the excessive-rainfall threat has also been upgraded to Level 2 of 4 near and east of US-15/I-81. Damaging winds are the primary severe threat, but repeated heavy downpours could also lead to flash flooding.

SCPAWX BOTTOM LINE: Enjoy today. Sunshine, mid 80s and increasingly humid, but no weather headaches. Thursday is a different story, especially during the afternoon and evening. Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible with damaging winds and heavy rainfall the biggest concerns.

After last week's tornadoes, I know seeing another Level 2 risk is going to get some attention. This does not mean we're expecting a repeat of last Thursday. We're not sounding alarms and we're not telling anyone to cancel plans, but Lancaster County absolutely has our attention Thursday.

Mother Nature had a few days to behave. Apparently she's getting bored.