Weekend warmth could bring the arrival of a few showers, isolated thunderstorms

 

Temperatures Thursday afternoon warmed into the low 80s, the first 80 degree reading for Rockford since mid-August. And those numbers are expected to climb through the weekend and into next week, possibly reaching close to 90 degrees. But a few showers and cloud cover could slow that warm up initially, at least for Saturday.

High pressure will continue across the northern Great Lakes keeping skies quiet through Friday night. Temperatures will fall into the mid-50s Thursday night, rising into the mid-80s Friday afternoon. A strong ridge of high pressure will begin to shift east from the Plains, falling just short of crossing the Mississippi River Saturday. An upper-level disturbance will move overtop the ridge Friday night, crossing into Wisconsin and northeast Illinois Saturday. While there isn't much instability with this disturbance, it does come with an increase in moisture and that could lead to a few showers, and perhaps an isolated storm or two, Saturday morning.

Temperatures Saturday will warm into the upper 80s, possibly close to 90 degrees, but that's only if the rain and clouds move out in time. There is a chance that both cloud cover and showers/storms last a little longer into the afternoon, at least for some, which could hold temperatures down from reaching their full potential. If that's the case, there may be some locations that only rise into the low 80s rather than upper 80s. If, however, the overnight rain ends up further north then we'll remain mostly dry with temperatures in the upper 80s, close to 90 degrees.