One for the record books Sunday

 

It was a cold, cold December afternoon as temperatures struggled to warm much above the mid-single digits. After dropping down to a low of -6 early Sunday morning afternoon highs didn't gain much with temperatures rising just a handful of degrees above zero. Rockford's high officially made it to 4 degrees. Our average high should be 35 degrees, so we were well below that that this afternoon.

Not only was it a bone-chilling afternoon it was also one for the record books. Before today, the coldest high temperature recorded for December 14th was 5 degrees which was set back in 1914. With today's high of only 4 degrees, we broke that record this afternoon! Thankfully we didn't break the record low temperature which was -11 set back in 1919. The record high temperature for today was set just 10 years ago when the mercury climbed to 61!

Cloud cover will stick around tonight thanks to a slow push of warm air aloft and a small increase in our mid-level winds. There is also a little more moisture but with such a dry low-level precipitation is not expected. The clouds, though, will keep our temperatures from dropping significantly under high pressure to our south. I still think our numbers will briefly dip below zero around Midnight before rising back above zero and close to 10 degrees Monday morning. Southwest winds will pick up later tonight gusting around 20 mph. This will help keep wind chills below zero and close to -10 to -15 when you wake up Monday morning. The breezy southwest wind will keep the chill in the air Monday with expected wind chills in the teens during the afternoon as afternoon highs rise into the low 20s.