The Storm Prediction Center has placed the tri-state region in a slight risk for severe thunderstorms for later today, according to the National Weather Service.

The combination of an approaching cold front, a few hours of daytime heating and sufficient low level moisture will provide the ingredients to produce a few strong to severe thunderstorms later today.

The main threat for severe weather would be in the form of hail and strong winds.

Once the front moves into the region late today, the severe weather threat will diminish.

A recent sunny day produced these pretty cloud patterns over Compo Beach. The weather forecast for today calls for some morning low clouds and patchy fog followed by variable cloudiness with a chance of showers from around midday on with possibly a thunderstorm., highs in the upper 70s. Stephen Rubin for WestportNow.com

Members of the Bedford family pose with the restored portrait of Edward Thomas Bedford, the Westport businessman and philanthropist who founded the Westport YMCA in 1923. Family donations made possible restoration of the work, which has been in the YMCA’s Bedford Building for 80 years. Shown are Bern Dibner, great-great-grandson of E. T. Bedford, Mrs. Lynne A. Warren (Lucie Bedford Warren), Bedford’s granddaughter, and Victoria Dibner, Bedfords great-granddaughter. Contributed photo

These youngsters dressed Hawaiian Wednesday at Westport’s Compo Beach. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Emily Laux for WestportNow.com

Pete Muller: Wins $98,000. Worldpokertour.
com photo Westporter Peter Muller placed fourth on the Travel Channel’s “World Poker Challenge” broadcast tonight. His winnings were $98,022

The event at the Reno Hilton in Reno, Nev., was taped April 1 for airing on the cable channel.

The 40-year-old Compo Mill Cove resident is an amateur player.

A former Wall Street trader and founder of a hedge fund, he says he uses the poker table as a place to get away from the stresses and demands of work.

Muller is a singer-songwriter as well and will appear at the Levitt Pavilion as “Pete Muller and Friends” Aug. 7.

The Westport Board of Selectmen tonight voted 2-1 (Izzo opposed) to endorse Parks and Recreation Dept. regulations that delete a “sunset clause” from controversial rules governing dogs at Compo Beach. The issue is now likely to go before the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) which has inserted the clause two years in a row so it could review the regulations governing dogs off leash in the non-summer months. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Town Attorney Ira Bloom said today uncertainty still exists over how Westport will be impacted by a snag that has developed in plans to upgrade power lines from Middletown to Norwalk.

Bloom spoke after attending a meeting today in New Britain to discuss objections by the operator of New England’s power grid to put some of the lines underground, including the route planned through Westport.

Asked whether Westporters could be confident any lines would be underground here, the town attorney replied, “It’s difficult to say. I’m hopeful they will remain underground, but it’s not clear.”

A top executive for ISO-New England Inc. told the Connecticut Siting Council last week that the grid operator will not support current plans to bury lines from Norwalk to Stratford.