Different day, same weather story

 

The cloud cover, fog, and drizzle held strong Thursday limiting the overall temperature climb from morning to afternoon. In fact, temperatures in Rockford stayed at 42 degrees the entire night, lasting through mid-morning Thursday. The high only made it to 48 (which is above average), but that's just a six-degree temperature climb.

As an upper-level trough and surface boundary approach the Stateline Thursday evening there will likely be an increase in coverage of both drizzle and fog, which will continue through the night. Similar to Tuesday night, temperatures won't fall too much with most settling close to 40 degrees. The exception would be if some of the cloud cover thins with time which would allow a few spots to fall into the upper 30s.

As drier air arrives behind the trough Friday it should continue to help thin out the low stratus clouds we've been under the last couple of days. But the sun may be in short supply as another system passing to the south keeps a steady stream of high and mid-level clouds overhead. So, either way we are looking at mostly cloudy skies for our Friday. This will likely keep temperatures in the upper 40s during the afternoon.

High pressure does eventually move in for the weekend which will help get rid of the pesky cloud cover, leaving skies partly cloudy and temperatures warming into the low to mid 50s. It should be a pretty nice weekend to get out and enjoy.