Few rain chances ahead, best arrives Wednesday morning

Memorial Day celebrations went uninterrupted as high pressure locked over the Great Lakes provided us with lots of sun and slightly below average temperatures. Officially, the Rockford Airport topped out at a pleasant 70° which falls 5° short of late-May standards. Monday was also Rockford's 10th day in a row at or below average. 

This cooler than average streak will likely carry on into the second half of the work week as an upper level low swings more cloud cover and low rain opportunities our way. An isolated sprinkle or shower can't completely be ruled out during the day Tuesday but dry air at the surface, thanks to an easterly wind, will limit the overall coverage. Temperatures will end up very similar to Sunday and Monday with most registering on either side of the 70° mark. 

As a surface low becomes a bit more organized late Tuesday night, we should start to see a steady increase in some light showers through Wednesday morning. A small increase in instability may also lead to an isolated rumble of thunder or two. The combination of Wednesday's cloud cover and light rain will leave us at our coolest point out of the week, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s. 

Following the departure of the low, our focus will then turn to a warm up that will leave us with near 80° temperature for the weekend. The one limiting factor to some of the weekend warm up would a backdoor cold front Saturday. 

Forecast models have winds shifting more to the northeast/east during the early portions of Saturday which would result in a cooler afternoon. If that front, however, doesn't develop to its fullest then temperatures would likely be on the warmer side as upper-level ridging develops and takes control. This would help push high temperatures into the upper 70s this upcoming weekend, with low to mid 80s early next week.