Air Quality Alert for Saturday with sunshine and warm conditions

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Sunshine continues throughout the remainder of the day Friday with afternoon highs in the upper 70s and low 80s.

Air Quality continues to improve Friday as smoke continues to move out of the region. There will still be some light smoke in the upper levels of the atmosphere, giving a little bit of a haze today, but will be better compared to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the tri-state.

The Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency has issued another ‘Air Quality Alert’ for Saturday all day long. For more details, click here.

Saturday will be mostly sunny with perhaps a little bit of upper-level smoke that will be visible along the horizon for the sunrise, but will clear out during the day. This will not affect air quality much, if at all, for any outdoor events on Saturday. Saturday will also be one of the warmer days of the extended forecast with afternoon temperatures in the mid 80s.

The U.S. Drought Monitor has southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky under Moderate Drought conditions due to the lack of soaking moisture in the tri-state. Southeast Indiana is under Abnormally Dry conditions, which isn’t as significant as a Moderate Drought.

Sunday will have partly cloudy skies to start the day, but showers and even a couple of thunderstorms will be possible late morning and be scattered on and off through the afternoon. Highs on Sunday will be in the upper 70s and low 80s.

A few storms on Sunday could be on the strong side - the Storm Prediction Center has southwest portions of the FOX19 NOW viewing area (mainly west of I-75) under a Marginal Risk (level 1 out of 5) for severe weather. Storms could contain heavy rain, cloud-to-ground lightning, and gusty winds. This does not look like a severe weather event, but it is something we’ll continue to monitor.

Showers and a few thunderstorms will continue overnight Sunday into Monday morning before ending by the lunch hour on Monday. Total rainfall amounts will vary between 0.25″ and 0.75″ with locally higher amounts possible. This will be welcomed to many gardeners and farmers with the moderate drought conditions in much of the FOX19 NOW viewing area.

Cooler conditions can be expected Monday with afternoon highs only in the low 70s with more clouds than sun. Tuesday will warm up in the upper 70s with a mix of sun and clouds. We can’t rule out a slight chance of showers and possible storms, but most will stay dry.

Wednesday is sunny and warm with temperatures soaring back into the low 80s. However, humidity will begin to increase as chances of showers and storms return going into the latter half of the week with summertime highs in the mid 80s.

The two week outlook for the tri-state shows above average temperatures and precipitation, which means we’ll be entering a summertime pattern with warm, humid days with more opportunities for showers and storms. Track the rain as it moves in on the FOX19 First Alert Weather app!

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