A Major Warm Up on the Way by Tuesday

An  Alberta Clipper system slipped by to the west of the Stateline on Sunday afternoon and is located near the southern tip of Illinois tonight.   It produced 1" to 3" from northwest Iowa into west central Illinois.  The low is on its way to southern Virginia by daybreak Monday morning with weak Canadian high pressure following in behind the departing system making for a mostly sunny, but relatively cool day with a high around 37 degrees. The Canadian high will shift to Kentucky by evening as a pattern shift takes place. A strong pressure gradient will develop between the high and a strong low over Montana. A surface warm front will develop from eastern Kansas to eastern Monana. Brisk southwesterly winds will develop across the Stateline overnight preventing the temperatures from dropping any lower than the upper 20's. The strong southwesterly winds of 20-30 mph with gusts to 35 mph will buffet the area on Tuesday.  Nearly all of the recent snows will be melted by sunset Tuesday.  The source region for the air will be the southern plains where humidity levels are relatively low, so it will be much warmer under mostly sunny skies. The afternoon high on Tuesday will be in the middle  to upper 50's.  By early Wednesday morning a cold front will stretch from northwestern Wisconsin southwest through Omaha, Nebraska. The strong southwesterly winds will continue through the day, and Gulf of Mexico moisture will be drawn northward into the mid west. Skies will become mostly cloudy, and scattered showers will develop during the afternoon. It will be very mild with an afternoon high near 60 degrees. Showers will be likely on Wednesday night as the cold front works its way across northern Illinois. The cold front will be east of Chicago and St. Louis by daybreak on Thursday. There is a slight chance of some lingering showers in the morning. Skies will become partly cloudy, and it will be cooler with a high temperature in the middle 40's. A sprawling Pacific type of high pressure will take charge of Stateline weather by Thursday night dropping temperatures to near 30 degrees. On Friday the high will be located over the central and northern plains providing a very nice day with mostly sunny skies in the Greater Rockford with a  northerly breeze, and an afternoon high around 43 degrees. The high will dominate upper midwestern weather next Saturday as it moves to northern lower Michigan providing mostly sunny skies, and afternoon temperatures in the  middle 40's.    On Sunday the high will shift into eastern Pennsylvania, but will maintain a ridge westward through northern Illinois.  Winds will be southeasterly, and the afternoon temperature will rise into the low 50's.