Hazardous Weather Outlook: Thunderstorms Threaten Region

Note: The above image has not been updated to accurately reflect the advanced risk of severe thunderstorms expanding to areas south of the Cape.

Clear skies Wednesday are expected to give way to clouds and potentially severe thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.

A Hazardous Weather Outlook has been put in effect for nearly all of Massachusetts, save for the Berkshires, and Rhode Island.

Temperatures over 80 degrees and high humidity will oppress much of the region through the early afternoon. "A cold front will bring the threat of [scattered] strong to severe t-storms this afternoon," the NWS posted on Twitter.

Storms are expected to be a possibility between 2 p.m and 8 p.m. today.

Not all areas will get sorely needed rain, but the NWS says more widespread rain is possible Sunday and Monday. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has all of Massachusetts and Rhode Island at a "marginal risk" of severe thunderstorms Wednesday.