Hazy skies continue with the late arrival of isolated showers Friday evening

 

Friday morning started off with plenty of sunshine, but it didn't take long for both the cloud cover and haze/smoke to move in, leaving overcast skies into Friday evening. Temperatures did manage to warm into the mid and upper 70s, with Rockford reaching a high of 80 degrees. This was our first 80 degree reading since May 16th when the high made it up to 88 degrees.

There have been a few showers that have tried to move down into northern and northeast Illinois, but very little of that has - so far - made much progress in reaching the ground. A slightly better organized area of showers and isolated thunderstorms have formed ahead of a cold front in Wisconsin and are quickly racing down the western edges of Lake Michigan Friday evening. The thicker band of cloud cover we have now will actually clear some through sunset from north to south, just ahead of the line of showers and storms north of Milwaukee.

The clouds have already cleared north of the state line, but it doesn't look like it thanks to the thick haze and smoke in our atmosphere. The image below is from our SkyTrack camera in Beloit, WI where clouds have currently moved out, but the smoke remains thick.

 

There still remains an isolated chance for a shower, and perhaps a rumble of thunder, by 9pm/10pm Friday evening. But the best location for this to occur will be mainly across southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois and likely stay east of I-39.

Once the cold front passes some of the thicker haze and smoke may clear through the night, but I still expect us to see hazy skies Saturday. The cold front will be to our west near the Mississippi River which will leave our skies locally quiet and dry. Afternoon temperatures will warm into the mid 70s Saturday, and then upper 70s Sunday. Overall, it looks to be a very nice weekend.