Severe Weather Chance for Connecticut This Weekend; Drought Conditions Worsen

If you have outdoor plans on Saturday, it looks like you’re going to want to keep an extra close eye on the forecast.

The National Weather Service just issued a "Hazardous Weather Outlook" for all of southern Connecticut stating, "thunderstorms Saturday afternoon may approach severe limits with locally damaging straight line winds possible."

No advisory has yet been issued for northern Connecticut but thunderstorms and showers are still forecast there too on Saturday.

NBC CT Meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan wrote, “Nice surge in instability Saturday could result in severe thunderstorms. The exact timing and intensity remains a bit cloudy at this point. Stay tuned!”

We’ll continue to update this potentially stormy forecast. But also of major significance is that Connecticut’s drought situation continues to escalate.

WTNH News 8 Meteorologist Gil Simmons wrote, “DROUGHT update: Severe drought status for Northern CT. Rest of the state remains moderate. We need much more rain & there's not much in the forecast.”

Most of southern Connecticut has a drought deficit of between 3-4 inches of rain while northern Connecticut is running up to 8 inches of rain behind where it should be at this point in the year.

As of Thursday afternoon here is the updated weekend forecast for Connecticut via the National Weather Service:

Friday: Sunshine and temps in the low 80s for southern CT and upper 80s in Hartford and Tolland counties.

Friday night: Showers and are possible after 1 or 2 a.m. with temps near 70 degrees.

Saturday: Chance of showers and thunderstorms after 12 p.m. for Connecticut. Mostly cloudy with temps in the mid 80s. Up to a half inch of rain is possible in southern CT and there is a chance of storms continuing Saturday night here too.

Up to a quarter of an inch of rain is possible in Hartford and Tolland counties on Saturday but the rain should end by Saturday evening.

Sunday: Beautiful summer day. Sunshine and temps in the low to mid 80s.

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