Foggy start, then a mostly dry, cooler Wednesday; soaking rain Thursday into Friday

Automatic update, 6:02 a.m.: Since the Scoop below was written, NWS has lowered its chance of rain for today to 20% (from 40%). At 5:35 a.m. the La Porte airport reported fog/mist and 64 degrees. There are no watches, warnings, or advisories for La Porte County right now.

A mostly dry, cooler day once the fog lifts. NWS says showers and storms are possible before 10 a.m. (40%), up to a quarter inch, but its hour-by-hour forecast is mostly dry after 7 a.m. High near 66; tonight mostly cloudy, low around 54. The La Porte airport at 5:15 a.m.: fog, 64, visibility 1 mile. Leave extra room on the morning drive.

Thursday: dry until about noon, then rain likely, with showers and storms Thursday night (80%). Friday: wet and windy (80%), gusts as high as 40 mph, near 55. NWS's amounts for Thursday through Friday night add up to 1½ to 2¼ inches. Sunny and dry this weekend: Saturday near 57, Sunday near 64. NWS says highs of 61 Thursday and 55 Friday and a low of 52 Friday morning; the computer models we also check run warmer by day and cooler Friday morning, so our forecast says 64, 63 and 46. The models disagree a lot on both days, so those are less certain.

What changed since yesterday's Scoop: Friday now looks wet (80%, from 30%), today's high is lower at 66 (from 71), and Thursday's NWS high is 61 (from 65). NWS Northern Indiana forecasters say the models differ on where Thursday's heaviest rain falls, and see a chance of frost Saturday night if winds calm. For Tuesday, we said a high of 82 and a 70% rain chance; the La Porte airport got 84 and no rain until after midnight.

Right now there are no watches, warnings or advisories for La Porte County or for Porter and Lake counties next door. SPC shows only general thunderstorms here today and Thursday, nothing Friday; its marginal severe risk Thursday is well south of us. WPC puts La Porte in a marginal (at least 5%) risk of flooding rain from 7 a.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday.