All Time Record High of 90 Degrees in Rockford for so Late in the Season!!!!!

The temperature reaching an amazing mid summer like level of 90 degrees at the Rockford Airport this afternoon for an all time record high for so late in the season.  It will not be quite as warm on Sunday, but will still be very warm for this time of year with a high around 85 degrees under sunny skies. The record high for Sunday is 88 degrees set in 1938.  So, it is not that far out of reach. The afternoon high temperatures have been higher than the forecast models because of the unusual weather pattern along with very dry air and dry soils across the Stateline.  Dry air is much easier to heat up than moist air, so we have been seeing more than 30 degree diurnal ranges in temperature when the average range is around 23 degrees. This air is very desert like. On Monday it will be a little cooler, but still well above normal with a high in the upper 70's. One factor that may make temperatures a little lower is a backdoor cool front that has slipped from Canada, directly southward across Wisconsin into northeastern Illinois with a little help from Lake Michigan, and a breeze coming in from the northeast off the lake. If that front should sag a little futher to the south into, or across, the Stateline as Canadian high pressure moves southeast across Ontario, it will result in cooler temperatures for northern Illinois.  On Monday, provided our region is still on the warm side of the front, temperatures will rise into the upper 70's under mostly sunny skies, and on Tuesday it will be another warm day in advance of a cool front pushing in from the northwest.  On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning there may be some light rain showers or sprinkles with the cool frontal passage. This front will not result in a drastic cool down as the air following in behind it is mostly of Pacific origin, so temperatures will just fall back to seasonal averages for a couple of days with highs in the 60's before we begin another warming trend taking tempertures back into the 70's by late week with more days of sunshine. It will be a dry week with the Gulf of Mexico pretty much shut off, so precipitation amounts on Tuesday night and Wednesday should not amount to more than a few hundredths of an inch, if that!
by Meteorologist
Eric Nefstead