Today's high temperature record for the Hartford area was broken. Temperatures exceeded 90 degrees at 11 a.m. this morning. The previous record was 90 degrees which was set in 1936.

The high temperature record for southern Connecticut is 84 degrees which was set back in 1998. Official records for southern Connecticut are recorded at Sikorsky Airport in Bridgeport.

Temperatures will continue to climb into the middle 90s for much of inland Connecticut. Temperatures along the water will be a bit cooler with a wind off of the water but still very pleasant.

In addition to the heat we're also monitoring the threat for strong to even severe thunderstorms later this evening. We're forecasting scattered thunderstorms to move into the northwest corner between 9 and 11 p.m.

Expect the thunderstorms to bring with them frequent lightning, strong winds, and the possibility of some small hail.

The warm weather will linger into Friday with more seasonable weather by the weekend. Temperatures tomorrow will climb into the middle 80s with temperatures back into the low to middle 70s by this weekend.

Here's a look at the temperature trend over the next several days.

A 22-year-old man was seriously injured after falling from a waterfall area in Enders State Forest in Granby on Thursday afternoon.

Emergency crews responded to the area near Longlott Road around 3 p.m.

The victim was flown by Life Star to St. Francis Hospital, according to police.

His condition has not been released.

After a day of record breaking warmth our attention turns to thunderstorm threat tonight.

We have issued a First Alert for potentially strong to even severe thunderstorms tonight.

Thunderstorms will track through Upstate New York and arrive in Connecticut later tonight. 

Here's a look at Interactive Radar:

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Thunderstorms are expected to arrive in the northwest portion of the state by 9 p.m. Here's a look at First Alert Future Radar at 9 this evening.

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A few of thunderstroms could be strong to even severe. The thunderstorms will likely bring with then strong winds, frequent lightning, and small hail. 

The thunderstroms will weaken as they head into eastern parts of the state. Most of the thunderstorm activity will be out of the state by midnight. 

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Make sure to download the NBC Connecticut App for the latest forecast and to track the storm with Interactive Radar. 

President Donald Trump responded to questions about the Russia investigation at a news conference Thursday with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Trump denied the allegation that he urged former FBI Director James Comey to back off his investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Alan Reed contacted NBC Connecticut Responds after a Windsor-based fence company, Hartford Wire Works, suddenly closed its doors for good after almost 150 years in business.

Reed installed a fence June 2016 from Hartford Wire Works because, at a $2,300 price tag, it was the most affordable.

“I saved for two years for that,” Reed said. “And I didn’t put my boat in the water last summer because it’s such a big expense.”

The fence went up just in time for Reed’s Father’s Day cookout, but a few months later, it started to sag.

“I wasn’t really concerned with it because I figured I’d let it settle for the winter,” Reed said. “And (I’d) just have them come out and straighten it out in the morning.”

Reed followed up with the company this past March and said an employee came right over to take a look. It was too wet to do the repairs, but Reed still wasn’t concerned.

“They’ve been around forever,” said Reed. “They’re not going to leave me high and dry.”

Then, when Hartford Wire Works suddenly closed, a representative told Reed the company would not be back to fix the fence.

NBC Connecticut Responds contacted a few local companies and explained Reed’s situation. One of those companies agreed to do the fix for free.

Hartford Wire Works’ owner also said he would reach out to Reed to make it right.

George Caron, a U.S. Marine who fought on Iwo Jima, wanted nothing more than to be at a ceremony to change out the custom made flag at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Newington on Thursday.

The 95-year-old didn't mind the 95-degree weather either.

Caron and his wife, Lois, helped raise money to build the memorial and they purchased the special 48-star American flag now flying above it.

"George is here and he's quite ill, but when he wanted to buy the flag again and hopefully we can continue that because it needs to be replaces, as you can see," Lois Caron said.

Newington firefighters change the flag at the Iwo Jima Memorial every year.

"Some of us are National Guardists ourselves and we just love coming out here to participate for the town and for all our veterans out there," Scott Whelan, a Newington firefighter, said.

Some came to support Caron and his fellow Marines as well.

"To me, it's an expression of life and love and loyalty and dedication to the Marine Corps and all they've done for our country," John Valentine, Caron's neighbor, said.

The president of the system that oversees 17 state colleges and universities told staff and students that if current budget proposals were to be adopted, then he would have no choice but to consider the closure of multiple institutions.

“You have to look at all of the options should that become reality and the reality of a cut that size is that we would have to close colleges,” Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) System President Mark Ojakian said. “We would have to close campuses. Not just one, but more than one and I want to be clear not only with the folks that I serve in the community but also those in the legislature.”

The overall cut proposed totals $80 million. Ojakian said filling that hole by raising tuition alone would cost those paying for attendance more than 25 percent more each year. Ojakian said he’s ruled out using a tuition increase to fill the gap.

“I will not bring forward to my board, another tuition increase. We have to figure it out ourselves and we have to work with the legislature to figure it out,” Ojakian said.

Some faculty in the system are not happy with Ojakian and that angst existed even before the prospect of a campus closure.

Ojakian’s proposal to consolidate some back office and IT functions, and the concept of combining programs was met with anger, especially by the faculty of Central Connecticut State University, who’s Faculty Senate went so far as to approve a vote of, “no confidence,” in Ojakian.

Elena Tapia is a professor of linguistics at Eastern Connecticut State University, and serves as the president of the Connecticut State University-American Association of University Professors unit that represents more than 3,000 faculty.

Tapia said any proposed cuts to higher education need to be shelved.

“Given the budget deficit, I think there are going to have to be some cuts, but I don’t think they should be to higher education,” said Tapia, a 23 year faculty member at Eastern. “If you want a workforce then they need to not cannibalize higher education but to nourish it, to put money back in to higher education.”

Ojakian said closing a campus wasn’t a real consideration when he was looking at chances for savings, and said he now need to explain those reasons to lawmakers.

“Many of our students have childcare and employment issues, so where they go to school now, it’s challenging enough for them to get there, so to make them travel another thirty or forty five miles is not going to be in their best interest which is why I did not initially propose closing a campus,” Ojakian said.

There's a chance the House might have to vote on the American Health Care Act again before the Senate can take it up, NBC News reported.

Republicans are using the budget "reconciliation" process to pass their health care bill, which allows them to push legislation through the Senate with a simple majority. But that depends on the bill meeting certain requirements — and one of them is that it reduces the deficit by at least $2 billion over the next decade.

Bloomberg News reported Thursday and NBC News has confirmed that House leaders have not formally sent their bill to the Senate on the chance that it fails to meet the deficit requirements.

If that happens, the House would have to vote again on changes.

Even though all three major credit ratings firms downgraded Connecticut’s standing in the past week, that won’t stop the state from continuing to authorize the borrowing of hundreds of millions for various projects.

Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s all downgraded Connecticut’s debt in the past seven days, with each publishing worries over the state’s planned depletion of its Rainy Day Fund and sagging income tax receipts.

When asked about the ratings, Gov. Dannel Malloy said this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who’s observed state government for decades.

"If you want to know what those downgrades are about, they’re about those unfunded longterm obligations, which my predecessors were more than happy to whistle while they walked by the graveyard," Malloy said.

Malloy is referring to the buildup of billions in pension payments that weren’t made under numerous previous administrations. Those costs now envelop more than 25 percent of all state expenses.

Rep. Chris Davis, one of two Republicans who sit on the State Bond Commission that authorizes borrowing, says taxpayers have become frustrated with what the state has spent money on.

“When we’re funding aquariums, science centers, $12,000 for clocks, that kind of thing. I think people get upset when they hear about bond ratings going down and they hear us spending $350 million dollars in one meeting,” Davis said.

Davis has taken on the role of opposing most packages, even though he acknowledges that taxpayers do have demands and expectations when it comes to new construction and improvements.

“Obviously we need to be building schools, we need to be building roads and repairing roads. We need to be doing projects that help our infrastructure across the state whether it be clean water or sewer or water line, something like that,” Davis said. 

Bonds are purchased by investors, and the funds from those sales are used to pay for expensive construction projects. Bonds are used for highway and bridge improvements, school construction, and other infrastructure projects.

The governor says even with the ratings downgrades, he says he feels the state has an obligation to make up for the failure to make investments for years, while also not paying for pensions.

“Do I believe that we should go back to the days where we ignored that? The answer is no,” Malloy said.

A 74-year-old woman was arrested for striking and killing a Waterford pedestrian in January before fleeing the scene. 

Shirley Langford turned herself in to the Waterford Police Department on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. on an active warrant for her arrest. 

An investigation found that Langford allegedly striking a pedestrian, Kim S. Weeks, of New London, on Jan. 19 in the area of Hartford Road (Route 85) and Dayton Place between 6 and 7:30 p.m.

The collision resulted in Weeks death and police later determined that Langford, of East Lyme, was the driver of the car that fled.

Police seized several of Langford's items, including her vehicle.

Langford has been charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, evading responsibility in operation of motor vehicle and failure to drive right.

She was released on promise to appear in court on June 5. 

LifeStar responded to a motorcycle crash in Deep River on Thursday night. 

Connecticut State Police said they were on the scene of the motorcycle accident on Main Street at Devitt Field. 

Main Street is shut down in that area.

It is unclear if any injuries have been reported.

No other details were immediately available. 

Cheshire Police are investigating after a serious car accident involving a motorcycle sent two people to the hospital with serious injuries Thursday night. 

Police said the accident happened on Highland Avenue or Route 10 near the intersection of Interstate 691. 

As of 9 p.m., police said southbound traffic remains normal, while northbound traffic is being diverted off of Highland Avenue at East and West johnson Avenue.

Police are encouranging drivers to avoid the area. 

Details on the conditions of the two people sent to the hospital were not made immediately available. 

Please check back for updates. 

A fire during the Google I/O Conference in Mountain View on Thursday sent three people to the hospital, one with critical injuries, according to fire officials.

Firefighters responded to Shoreline Amphitheatre on reports of a fire inside one of the venue's food service buildings that was contained to the one building, fire officials said.

A total of six people were injured in the blaze, fire officials said. Three were transported to a hospital, one with life-threatening injuries. The other three were treated at the scene.

The developer conference was interrupted only briefly and continued Thursday evening. No evacuations were ordered, and no other injuries were reported, fire officials said.

Fire officials said the flames were caused by a grease fire in the kitchen of one of the food service buildings.

Voters in the Blue Hills Fire District in Bloomfield elected a new fire commissioner, just months after a series of reports on thousands of dollars in stipends, bonuses and perks given to people running a fire district serving about 20,000 people.

"We’re gonna bring changes to this community, we’re gonna bring changes to this firehouse, I thank you all," the new incoming commissioner Jacqueline Massey-Green told voters after the tally.

Massey-Greene wants change after NBC Connecticut Troubleshooter reports on what commissioners-- essentially volunteers-- have received from the district. It includes a $5,000 annual stipend, thousands more in performance and holiday bonuses, plus other perks.

Through their attorney, commissioners previously said the precedent of stipends and holiday bonuses were set many years ago but performance bonuses began more recently.

Bloomfield Mayor Joan Gamble was present at the vote and she criticized commissioners for not being more transparent about their pay and benefits. She told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters she is only guardedly optimistic because Massey-Green is one of just three commissioners.

Two of the ones who have received sizable benefits remain on the board, which elects its commissioners in staggered terms. The board has its own taxing authority and operates independently from the Town of Bloomfield.

A Metro-North train derailed in Westchester, injuring more than a dozen people and leading to delays during Thursday's evening rush, MTA officials said. 

Thirteen people were injured in the derailment, including four people who required treatement at a hospital, officials said. At least one person was seen being taken off the train by stretcher. 

Officials said five cars of the 12-car train derailed northeast of the Rye station, which is on the New Haven line. All of the affected cars were still upright after the derailment.  

The cause of the derailment is under investigation. Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino said the train appeared to be going around a curve at a speed faster than the 10 mph allowed. 

"It's likely that it's excessive speed around that curve," Astorino said. 

MTA would not confirm Astorino's statement about the speed, but said a speed restriction was set for the curve Thursday because of hot weather. 

The train was headed south and scheduled to get into Grand Central at 5:42 p.m., officials said. It was approaching the Rye station when it derailed at 5 p.m.

Kim Rosenberg said the train lurched to the left.

"Smoke started rising, and you felt like you were riding on rocks," Rosenberg said. "People started to scream, and you were just hanging on the front of the seat." 

"It felt like we were going to tip over," another passenger said.  

Passengers were transferred to another train by 6:30 p.m., and crews were working to remove the derailed train Thursday night. 

The MTA said it's optimistic it will be a "relatively normal" commute for Metro-North riders on Friday morning. 

Vice President Mike Pence and his team were not made aware of an investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying for Turkey, a source close to the administration told NBC News, a potential "pattern" of not informing Pence that would be "malpractice or intentional, and either are unacceptable."

Flynn was fired for lying to Pence about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, and a new report, which the White House has denied, claims Flynn told Trump transition lawyer Don McGahn, now White House Counsel, that he was under federal investigation for lobbying.

The source called the report "stunning." It would be the second time Pence claims he was kept in the dark about Flynn's alleged wrongdoings while the White House knew of them. Pence was running the presidential transition.

The source close to the administration did not blame President Donald Trump for allegedly not making the vice president aware, suggesting it was likely the president had assumed Pence and his team were "in the loop." Instead, the source said blame would lie with McGahn and whoever he told.

Metro-North will run a normal service Friday on the New Haven line, however, MTA officials said commuters could experience some service changes and delays up to 15 minutes following Thursday evening's derailment in Westchester.

Riders traveling between Stamford and Rye to Grand Central Terminal will need to use the outbound platform, while customers traveling to New Haven will need to use the inbound platform, MTA officials said. Commuters should listen for announce at the station. 

It comes on the heals of a derailment in Rye that injured more than a dozen people.

Thirteen people were injured in the derailment, including four people who required treatment at a hospital, officials said. At least one person was seen being taken off the train by stretcher. 

Officials said five cars of the 12-car train derailed northeast of the Rye station, which is on the New Haven line. All of the affected cars were still upright after the derailment.  

A Metro-North spokeswoman said Friday morning that the train has been partially removed, with some cars still there. Track repairs have started, she said. 

The cause of the derailment is under investigation. Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino said the train appeared to be going around a curve at a speed faster than the 10 mph allowed. 

"It's likely that it's excessive speed around that curve," Astorino said. 

MTA would not confirm Astorino's statement about the speed, but said a speed restriction was set for the curve Thursday because of hot weather. 

The train was headed south and scheduled to get into Grand Central at 5:42 p.m., officials said. It was approaching the Rye station when it derailed at 5 p.m.

Kim Rosenberg said the train lurched to the left.

"Smoke started rising, and you felt like you were riding on rocks," Rosenberg said. "People started to scream, and you were just hanging on the front of the seat." 

"It felt like we were going to tip over," another passenger said.  

Passengers were transferred to another train by 6:30 p.m., and crews were working to remove the derailed train Thursday night. 

The MTA said it's optimistic it will be a "relatively normal" commute for Metro-North riders on Friday morning. 

Storms rolled into Connecticut around midnight, bringing thunder, lightning and downpours, and power is out for around 350 Eversource customers this morning. 

While the storms woke people up across parts of the state, there is little damage, but the National Weather Service reports several trees down in Kent. 

Today will be partly sunny and breezy, with highs in the middle 80s. 

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