After a quiet peak hurricane season, there is an area to watch that is coming off the coast of Africa. Environmental conditions are becoming more favorable that some development could occur next week.

Thousands of homes across Tokyo, Japan, lost power Thursday as powerful storms dropped heavy rain across the region. Flash floods filled the streets and railway operations, including the country’s famous bullet train, were stopped for hours. Flights at Haneda Airport were also grounded due to lightning.

An omega block has set up, allowing the late-summer heat to build across the Central U.S. The 90s will make it as far north as the Northern Plains, stretching from Sioux Falls and Des Moines down through Kansas City, St. Louis, Nashville to the Gulf Coast. The warmth starts to spread east this weekend, but will become more noticeable across the Northeast next week. Check out your weekend forecast here.

Are you a cloud-lover? We, here at weather.com, are. In honor of Cloud Appreciation Day, we gathered some of the best cloud photos from our weather experts to celebrate the skies. From mammatus clouds at sunset to towering cumulonimbus clouds over the water, meteorologist Caitlin Kaiser dives into why these cloud photos are so incredible.

The Garnet Fire, ignited by lightning, grew by more than 10,000 acres in 24 hours in California’s rugged Sierra National Forest.