INDIANA, USA — Every year we ask the same question: Will we get fireworks, or will we get nature's fireworks (a.k.a. lightning).
Scattered storm chances are in the early forecast for the Fourth of July for Indiana and much of the Corn Belt and Great Lakes.
What is the weather pattern looking like and what does the setup typically bring? That is what we want to get into.
In the meantime, you can tap HERE for the 7-day forecast from the WTHR weather team and a look at the Fourth of July.
Weather setup for the Fourth of July
We are tracking the jet stream closely. It's the reason why some days we get a heat dome and others we get a cool down. It is looking like the jet stream will flatten out across the U.S. around Independence Day, bringing widespread chances for scattered showers across the Plains and Great Lakes. That includes Indiana.
The white zone shows the roughly placement of the jet stream. This funnel of wind generally helps spur the creation of low pressure systems and pushes them west to east.
The green zone shows the area that could get scattered rain and storms thanks to the formation of a low pressure system.
There may be a chance for some severe storms as well in the green zone, especially along the southern edge of the jet stream.
What is the chance for rain going to be?
Rain chances go up on Thursday. However, we are not sure how often it will rain. Many times in scenarios like this we can get scattered rain and storms, with lots of sunshine in between. Right now we think there is a 50/50 shot of some rain on Independence Day.
We have an early look at Thursday with FutureTrak 13. This is going to change a lot, but you can see the unsettled weather chance for all of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
The placement and timing of individual clusters of rain and storms will come with time.
We are not calling for a washout. But we are calling for some unsettled weather around the holiday.
What do we know?
There are a few things we are fairly confident about! It should be warm and humid. South winds at the surface should help keep us in the 80s and 90s. Heat index values will be well into the 90s around the Fourth of July.
Summery weather will be here, but we'll have to dodge some rain chances around the fireworks.
