Drought conditions worsen for some, but rain and storms are on the way for Friday

The latest drought monitor released today showed minor improvements in the ongoing drought in Sheboygan and eastern Fond du Lac counties, but the extreme drought has expanded across a majority of southwest and south central Wisconsin. 

After experiencing our third wettest start to the year through early April, we've been experiencing the opposite ever since. Milwaukee is running nearly seven and a half inches below normal since April 6th.

There are several rain chances in the forecast over the next week with the first arriving on Friday. An area of storms will develop in Minnesota and Iowa tonight and push into Wisconsin Friday morning. There's some uncertainty on where this will *exactly* track, but the storms will be on a weakening trend as they move in around mid morning.

If the showers and clouds clear out quickly during the afternoon and we can get several hours of sunshine, we could have a second round of storms in the evening that would be strong to severe.

However, if the showers and clouds linger longer into the afternoon, that would reduce our chance for severe storms. Currently a large area of the state, including all of southeast Wisconsin, is under a Slight Risk (level 2 of 5) for severe storms on Friday. We expect this large risk area to become more defined on Friday. Damaging wind and hail would be the threats with any severe storms.

Download the CBS 58 Ready Weather App to get the latest updates on the storms and to get warnings sent to your phone whenever we get them.