The calendar may read early July, but U.S. weather in the Great Lakes and Northeast was chilly Thursday with thunderstorms possible, forecasters said.

More seasonal weather is expected to arrive in time for Fourth of July celebrations on Saturday, The Boston Globe said, with warmer summer weather after that.

A man was killed by lightning Wednesday while boating in Orleans, Mass., as fierce rainstorms battered New England. Two house fires were started by lightning in Abington.

New Bedford and Fall River were the hardest hit during Wednesday's downpour, with 1.5 and 3 inches, respectively.

The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal said as many as 12,000 customers lost power Thursday morning as a line of severe storms pounded the region. National Grid spokesman David Graves said outages were widespread throughout Rhode Island.

In Narragansett, 2,500 customers lost power at about 8:20 a.m., and in East Providence, 2,300 were without electricity, as were 2,000 in Coventry.