Cooler and Drier Next Week

We had some light rain linger early this morning, and this didn't help at all with the already flooded areas that we got from the heavy downpours the night before.  Some places had rainfall rates over 1"/hour, which is very high.  Flooding will continue to be a concern going through the weekend and into next week as river levels will begin to crest.  The Pecatonica River in Freeport will crest on Wednesday, and the water levels will be just above major flood stage levels by that time.

Luckily, drier weather is now in place as that low pressure system that brought us the heavy rainfall has begun to move out of our area, causing the cloud cover to decrease.  Clouds will continue to decrease as we head through the overnight, but it'll still be fairly warm and muggy with all the moisture from the rain. 

That low pressure system will linger off to the east tomorrow afternoon, giving us just enough instability to allow for a slight storm chance between 3-4pm.  However, high pressure will begin moving in during the afternoon as well, so more than likely storms won't occur.  Temperatures will manage to hit the upper 80°s with lingering humidity, the reason being that the high won't be close enough to bring in cooler temperatures.

The drier trend for next week will be due to two upper level lows in the Pacific Northwest and the northern Great Lakes.  This will allow for stronger meridional flow in the jet stream to occur over the northern plains, which is where surface lows will form.  This will bring us a storm chance on Wednesday, but that upper low to the northwest will track eastward and push the jet stream further southward.  This will allow for surface lows to stay down in the plains, and the heat and humidity to stay away from us.

Temperatures will cool to the mid to upper 80°s when the high moves in for Monday and Tuesday.  That low, which will develop in the plains due to the upper level ridging, will form on Wednesday and bring us some storms.  The jet will make the southward track on Thursday, and stay that way afterwards through the end of the week.  Temperatures will be in the upper 70°s to end the week.