Gusty winds to persist ahead of a significantly cooler weekend

Leaves were flying Monday as winds became quite breezy for the afternoon. Expect the same today and the next few days as the parade of weak disturbances and cold fronts continue. 

Ahead of our next disturbance which is scheduled to arrive overnight tonight, winds will be organized and warm out of the south. This will pave the way for a mild Tuesday with highs in the low 60s. Typically, average highs for Rockford are falling into the low 50s at this point in the calendar year. Tagging along with today's breeze will be partly cloudy skies, which will also help with the warm up process. Skies stay partly cloudy overnight with temperatures falling into the upper 40s. 

Forecast models show our next disturbance sliding to our north late Wednesday morning. With it will be the second cold front which will help turn winds back to the northwest for Wednesday afternoon. 

Winds this time around will be a bit stronger, possibly gusting up to 40 mph. The strongest winds will be present between 9AM to 2PM. So for those traveling around the midday hours, use extra caution. This will limit afternoon highs to the upper 50s. 

Gusty winds are then expected to stick around for the final days of the work week. We could see winds gust up to 25 mph both Thursday and Friday. Afternoon highs will climb back into the low 60s before cooling significantly over the weekend. 

We'll have to keep an eye on a storm system for the Saturday evening, Sunday morning time frame. As of this morning, forecast models show this perturbation sliding into western and north-central Illinois during this time frame. The difference, one model brings in a lot more cooler air ahead of the incoming low, resulting in the greater potential for wintry precipitation rather than rain showers. Something to monitor as we inch closer to the weekend.