A line of severe thunderstorms is expected to develop in Wisconsin this afternoon and move across Lower Michigan this evening and tonight. You may have heard this type of severe weather called "straight-line" winds. In the case of tonight, the severe weather could be an altered form of straight-line winds we meteorologists call a QLCS, or Quasi-Linear Convective System. It might be a new term for you.

The difference is a QLCS can often form brief tornadoes along the line of storms. Typically a straight-line wind event won't have any tornadoes.

Look at the radar forecast below for 8 p.m. tonight. You see a few kinks along the expected line of storms. These kinks represent where a small low-pressure system forms along the line of storms. The low-pressure causes a small rotation to develop, and the thunderstorm in that rotation can produce a tornado.

Radar forecast at 8 p.m. tonight, August 28, 2018

These isolated brief tornadoes that form in a QLCS are not photogenic. In fact, they aren't visible. You won't be able to stand out on your porch and watch a tornado. First off, if they happen tonight, it will be 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and dark. But the tornadoes are also rain-wrapped. What you experience is a two-phase severe weather event. You would be hit by a strong gust of wind as the thunderstorm starts. Then the rain really picks up and the wind intensifies. Finally the wind driven rain is blowing horizontal and coming from various directions. It's a short lasting event, only a minute or two.

When you go outside after the storm, it looks like someone took a chainsaw to trees scattered about your view. It leaves you wondering if it was a tornado or straight-line winds.

And the true answer is yes. It could be both severe weather situations at the same time.

This post isn't meant to overly alarm you. It's meant to let you know that this evening's severe weather could get quickly dangerous for a very short time in isolated locations.

If you like the law of averages, you have less chance of getting hit by this severe weather than getting hit. But you should know that it is possible tonight, especially in western Lower Michigan.

Watch for updates on MLive. And now you know what a QLCS is.