Thursday, May 17, 2018

Influence of Lake Michigan on Temperatures Thursday

A weak cool front came in from the northeast Thursday afternoon, shifting winds around to the northeast and reinforcing a cooler air mass over northeast Illinois and southeast Wisconsin.  Highs on Thursday warmed to 79 degrees in Rockford, the low 80's west of Rockford and the low 70's to the east. 


With the wind off of Lake Michigan Thursday afternoon temperatures fell into the 50's from near Milwaukee to Chicago (areas closer to the shore of Lake Michigan).  Further inland temperatures were a little warmer but still in the 60's.  Lake
Michigan water temperatures are in the upper 40's, to right around 50 degrees.  Since it's still relatively 'cool' a wind from either the east or northeast will help provide a natural cooling effect for those living along the lake shore.  Sometimes the lake breeze can spread west for quite a distance, like it did on Tuesday.  The lake breeze made it all the way past Rockford and Janesville!  It didn't really cool us off, but it the wind direction did shift to the east Tuesday evening.


Winds will remain from the east/northeast for the next couple of days and this will keep areas like Chicago and Milwaukee a little cooler than places further inland.  Highs for us will reach the mid and upper 70's.  Cloud cover Friday and Saturday will have more of an impact on our temperatures those days than the wind off of Lake Michigan.

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