Today will be warm and humid with scattered afternoon thunderstorms, as our first taste of summer continues this week across Connecticut.

An Air Quality Alert is in effect from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. this evening for northern Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties, as the potential exists for high levels of ozone, due to a very warm southwesterly flow.

Expect a mix of hazy sun and clouds, warm and humid temperatures. Highs: 80-85 inland, 75-80 along the shore. Wind: SSW 5-10 mph.  Sunset: 8:10 p.m.

A back door cold front draped across northern New England will slowly move south and stall across Massachusetts this afternoon and evening. It will be right along that front where showers and thunderstorms will fire up this afternoon. Depending on how far south the front moves, that factor will determine if we get any of those storms. At this point it looks as though the northern tier of Connecticut has the best chance for showers and thunderstorms late today. This front will stay to our north tonight and Wednesday, keeping our region in the warm and humid air-mass. So expect areas of dense fog along the shoreline once again early tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow will be a carbon copy of today, with more heat and moderate levels of humidity as well as highs back into the 80s well inland. Because the front will be further north into northern New England, there will be less of a chance for afternoon thunderstorms. However, we cannot completely rule out that one or two storms might clip areas of the state late tomorrow afternoon or evening. By late Thursday into Friday, the main cold front will slowly cross the region with more showers and thunderstorms where some heavy rain could be realized. Current indication is that the front will clear the area just in time for Memorial Day Weekend.

High pressure will dominate our weather from central Canada with plenty of sunshine and cool temperatures, with highs in the 70s and low in the 40s and 50s throughout the holiday weekend.  However, there is one computer model that shows a storm nearby with a period of rain early Saturday, followed by slow clearing in the afternoon with a nice Sunday and Monday.

At this point, we will keep an eye on that scenario, however the consensus is to plan for a beautiful holiday weekend.

Extended Forecast:

Wednesday: Partly cloudy, warm and humid, with a chance for a pop-up thunder storm. High: 80-85. Wind: SSW 5-15 mph.

Thursday: Intervals of clouds and sun, warm and humid, numerous showers and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon and evening. High: low 80s.

Friday: More showers and thunderstorms. High: 70s.

Weekend: Mostly sunny, cool, dry and pleasant with highs in the 60s and 70s, then overnight/early morning lows in the 40s.