Another Windy Day Ahead

It was a windy but warm afternoon yesterday, with southerly winds bringing high temperatures into the low 60's yesterday afternoon. This was very close to our record high of 65° for that day.

Today we do somewhat of a weather 180 with sunshine and much colder temperatures. It will also continue to be very windy this afternoon.

The wind advisory from yesterday has been extended through 6pm this evening with westerly winds gusting near 40-45mph this afternoon. Winds will begin to die down this evening, but it will still be blustery with west winds gusting near 30mph.

The National Weather Service reporting peak winds gusts in Rockford were recorded at 56mph at the Rockford Airport a little after 11:00pm last night.

Be careful and use caution this afternoon and evening while driving. There will be difficult driving conditions because of the strong winds, especially on north/south roads. Also be careful if you are driving a high profile vehicle. 

The strong winds are the result of a very strong low pressure system that passed to our north yesterday. It's currently positioned just north of Lake Superior this morning, but is still forecast to strengthen this afternoon. This will tighten the pressure gradient over the area and will re-strengthen the winds for the late morning and afternoon today. Strong westerly winds will be felt behind the cold front, through Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.

This strong cold front also brought a drastic drop to temperatures this morning, by 7pm last night temperatures were still in the low 60's, they've now fallen into the 20's area wide. And the 24-hour temperature change shows morning temperatures about 20-30 degrees colder.


The chilly air sticks around through the rest of this week and into next week as well. Highs will remain below normal in the 20's and 30's through the weekend.