January warmth to be followed by chills at the end of next week

Numerous record highs were broken Thursday afternoon from the Plains to the Midwest.  Officially in Rockford we reached 50°, just shy of the record which was 54° set all the way back in 1909.

The mild January weather will continue into early next but then the temperature roller coaster will once again dip down following a pretty strong cold front.  A cut-off low pressure system will develop this weekend in the southwest and remain in the south before moving into the Ohio River Valley late next week.  At the same time a strong cold front will move through the northern Plains and into the Great Lakes late Wednesday night.  This will send temperatures tumbling Thursday with highs possibly only reaching the middle 20s during the afternoon.  The low pressure system will likely keep the bulk of moisture to our south, however, if we can get some of that wrapped into the cold front we may have a few rain/snow showers to go with the cold and wind late Wednesday and Thursday.