Warm, Soggy, and Foggy Weekend Ahead

Hold onto your hats, a weather 180 is about to take place!
From five inches of snow, and below zero temperatures; to forecast highs in the 40's, rain, and fog.

Temperatures over the next several days will continue to moderate a bit more each day, we'll end this weekend with highs in the upper 30's! But forecast highs this weekend will climb even higher, especially by Sunday. They're expected to climb into the low 40's by Sunday!

One of the factors fueling the warm up is our next low pressure system. It's currently still well out in the Pacific, but it will move onshore Friday. By Saturday it will strengthen a bit more over the Oklahoma panhandle and then will lift northeast over Iowa and northwest Illinois. This track will keep northern Illinois in the warm sector.

Ahead of the system, our winds turn to the south, which will tap into the moisture in the Gulf. It will slowly allow our dew points to climb, which leads to climbing temperatures through the weekend. This will support highs in the upper 30's and even low 40's Friday through Sunday, and even briefly Monday. The widespread warmth will make it feel a bit like spring, especially as the recent snow begins to melt. With all of the added moisture, it will likely lead to a few foggy evenings this weekend.

Adding to the spring-like feel, will be a chance for rain on Sunday. Ahead of the approaching front, light rain will begin late Saturday into Sunday. Showers will increase in coverage and intensity by the evening Sunday. The cold front will then pass early Monday, and as we tug in cold air behind the front, the rain will transition back to a wintry mix to snow. Temperatures will then fall next week.

In the summer, when our systems take moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, they usually are heavy rain producers. Since the air this time of year is colder than the summer, we won't be able to hold as much moisture in the atmosphere as we would be able to in June or July. However, we still look to get a decent amount of rain this weekend. The Weather Prediction Center currently shows the northern Illinois and Iowa getting anywhere from .50" to 1.25"! 

The system isn't even on shore yet, and being several days away there will likely be some tweaks made to the forecast. We'll make sure to keep you up to date!