Temperatures cool following strong Fall cold front Wednesday

 

There isn't much more one can say about the beautiful stretch of pre-Fall weather we've been dealt lately other than Tuesday was a near carbon copy of the last few days: partly cloudy skies and temperatures warming into the mid and upper 70s. But if you've been yearning for those summer-like temperatures to return, you may have to wait a bit longer. It's been nearly two weeks since we've had a high temperature of 80 degrees, which was back on the 20th of August! And it'll be a little while before we see those 80s return, if they return at all!

Clouds will continue to increase through the evening which will help keep temperatures in the upper 50s, to right around 60 degrees tonight. This is actually closer to our average low temperature for the beginning of September.

Rain and thunderstorms have been ongoing to our northwest this afternoon, ahead of the main cold front that arrives Wednesday. The precipitation won't be much of a factor for us this evening because of the lack of instability and drier air currently over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. With that, a lot of the showers have been weakening and dissipating.

As a little piece of energy moves in after Midnight, we could see a few light showers redevelop, lasting through sunrise Wednesday. However, I don't think this will have much impact on the morning commute. The cold front will arrive during the morning as light rain forms along and behind it, moving out by late afternoon. Winds will turn to the northwest as temperatures as temperatures drop from near 70 degrees around 10am/11am, down into the 60s by lunchtime and then into the 50s around sunset. Rainfall totals are likely to remain around a quarter of an inch.

Dry air is quick to move in behind the front which will give us some clearing Wednesday night as temperatures fall into the low to mid 40s. This dry air sticks around into Thursday which will give us a little more sunshine, but temperatures only in the low to mid 60s.

The next wave of energy to move through will be late Thursday night as a second cold front swings in. Ahead of the front, surface winds will briefly

transition to the southwest before quickly turning to the northwest Friday. This will hold temperatures in the 60s again Friday afternoon. Winds will also increase with this second system, gusting around 30 mph through Friday afternoon and early evening.