The air Tuesday had a spring-like feel to it as high temperatures warmed into the upper 50s and low 60s. Rockford's high temperature reached 60 degrees, the first time since last November when the high reached 66 degrees. To put this warmth into perspective, the average high for late February should be in the mid-30s. And it looks like we've got at least a few more 60-degree days before the month is up.
On average, our first 60-degree day usually occurs during the first week, to week and a half, of March, but has occurred as early as January 4th,1997, and as last as April 7th,1970. Last year, the first 60-degree (or above) day occurred on March 31st. The high that day made it to 70 degrees which helped fuel severe weather across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Numerous tornadoes occurred that evening, one of which was an EF 1 that moved from Davis Junction to Belvidere, injuring 40 and killing one. At that time, it was the third largest tornado outbreak in the U.S., with 22 tornadoes occurring in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Temperatures Wednesday are likely to warm back near 60 degrees, but increasing cloud cover during the afternoon may limit that climb just a bit. Regardless, afternoon highs will once again warm well above average and can be expected to continue through the weekend.
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