A Bit of a Jolt Back to Reality on Monday!

The largest and coldest Canadian air mass to have an impact on the upper mid west since March 9th is dropping temperatures tonight.  That's the bad news. The good news is that the Stateline had a fabulous day on Sunday with a high of 76 degrees... a full 25 degrees warmer than the average high of 51 degrees on March 25th.  A sprawling Canadian high is centered over the northwestern portion of Ontario near Hudson Bay.  Temperatures in the vicinity of the high on Sunday afternoon were about 10 above zero with dew points near zero.  A back door cold front swept down the length of Lake Michigan, and then pushed toward the west across the Rockford Metro area this evening. The wind shifted to the east and northeast following the passage of the front, and temperatures dropped into the 40's from the Lake Michigan shoreline westward to just east of Rockford by 11 pm.  Dew points are also dropping tonight, and the low temperature overnight will reach down into the upper 30's by daybreak.  No frost is expected in the Stateline tonight with skies becoming mostly cloudy later on and a brisk northeasterly wind picking up.  However, Freeze Warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service for portions of northeast Wisconsin, and the northern half of lower Michigan., and Frost Advisories are in effect for southern lower Michigan, the northeastern half of Indiana, over into Ohio later tonight.  It could be even colder tomorrow night.  There is a great deal of concern about the vulnerable fruit crop in Michigan because of the advanced stage of bud development brought on by the recent extended unseasonable warm spell.  The progress of the fruit crop is between 2 to 4 weeks ahead of normal because of the warm weather. 

Temperatures will jump around a bit this week, and the chilly temperatures on Monday will not last long.  A strong weather system over the northern plains on Tuesday morning will draw a warm front across the Stateline during the day, and temperatures will recover into the middle to upper 60's by late Tuesday afternoon.  Showers and thunderstorms will be possible in advance of a cool front which will push across the area in the evening.  Wednesday will be mostly sunny, and temperatures will be comfortable in drier air behind the front.