Humid, stormy conditions remain in place ahead of next cold front

Some, especially in and around Rockford, heard the sound of thunder overnight. These were an isolated round of non-severe thunderstorms that were tagging along with a lifting warm front. 

Once the warm front is to our north and east, any storm chances should wind down by mid-morning, allowing temperatures to quickly rise into the upper 80s. This, along with dew point temperatures at or above 70° will place the heat index near 100° at times through the mid to late afternoon. There is a heat advisory for Whiteside County from 12PM to 7PM. However, it is unlikely to be expanded, but it will be noticeably warmer for most than it was Sunday afternoon.

This heat and humidity will fuel the next round of storms that will arrive after 4PM from the West. The Storm Prediction Center does have the entire region under a Marginal Risk as these storms will be capable of isolated damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph. Heavy downpours will also be a concern. The strongest storms will exit not long after the midnight hour, with only isolated showers and a few storms lingering into the early stages of Tuesday morning.

Dew points will remain in the low 70s for Tuesday as we await the passage of our next cold front. Forecast models show this front sweeping through late in the morning into the early afternoon, turning our winds to the northwest by Tuesday evening. This will lower humidity levels and our temperatures into Wednesday, limiting highs to the upper 70s. An even stronger cold front is scheduled to sweep through over the weekend, further dropping high temperatures and humidity levels into next week.