Excessive heat and humidity could contribute to the development of potentially severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening.

Thursday morning will bring mostly sunny skies and muggy temperatures with showers and storms entering the area from the west between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., according to Storm Center 7 Meteorologist Erica Collura.

“These storms will carry on through the evening hours and have a good chance of producing damaging winds. Hail and localized flooding as well as dangerous lightning will be concerns,” Collura said. “Activity will taper down late tonight and we should be relatively quiet after midnight or so.”

Storm Center 7 Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson said not only are storms definite, but severe storms are likely from mid-afternoon through mid-evening.

He said the conditions will be similar to those on June 29, when a “super” derecho (pronounced: deh-REYcho), or land hurricane, swept in from Fort Wayne, Ind., and left a 700-mile-wide path of damage on a 12-hour march to Washington, D.C.

That storm caused widespread property damage, downed trees and power lines and left about 1 million statewide without electricity. The aftermath prompted Gov. John Kasich to declare a state a emergency and call in the National Guard. Miami and Butler counties incurred costs in excess of $100,000 from storms that day and July 1.

“The Storm Prediction Center has upgraded us to a moderate risk which means they expect more reports of damage than they would in a slight risk,” Simpson said.

He said widespread damage is a good possibility and a line of damaging winds with gusts to 80 mph is very possible. “It could end up being a setup similar to the one we had the day of Tattoo,” he said, referring to the derecho storm that forced the cancellation of the annual Freedom’s Call Tattoo celebration at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on June 29.

Ohio Edison parent company First Energy Corp. announced Wednesday that they are mobilizing crews in case the storms impact electric service.

“All FirstEnergy utilities are on high alert and continue preparations to mobilize employees and resources, as needed, from throughout FirstEnergy’s 10 utilities to assist in storm restoration activities in the hardest-hit areas,” the company said in a release.

Ohio Edison outage information will be available on their web site www.firstenergycorp.com and on the company’s Twitter accounts in the event of a major service interruption.

Information on any Dayton Power & Light storm preparations was unavailable Wednesday evening.

A National Weather Service heat advisory is in effect today from noon to 8 p.m. for Darke, Preble, Mercer, Butler and Warren counties.

The weather service has issued an excessive heat warning for Montgomery County until 8 p.m. tonight because the heat index is expected be over 105 degrees. Simpson said Wednesday evening that temperatures in the city of Dayton were not expected to drop below the upper 70s overnight, leading to that warning.

There are chances for showers and storms Friday afternoon, but nothing like Thursday’s storms, according to Collura.

The weekend is expected to be dry with lower humidity and seasonable temperatures.