Thursday afternoon update

Temperatures early this afternoon range from the low to mid 90s across the area, however, the heat index values have exceeded 100 degrees in many locations. 

A Heat Advisory remains in effect for northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin through this evening. 

Looking ahead to this afternoon there are a few things I would like to discuss. First, is the weak cool front that has moved (or is currently moving) through. Actually, I wouldn't even call it a cool front as the main front is still out west. Basically what has passed is just a wind shift line. Winds now will shift around to the west/northwest rather than the south. This may actually keep the air temperature in the mid and upper 90s but with dew point values in the middle 70s it's going to feel much worse outside. The atmosphere remains fairly capped due to the amount of warmth aloft so it's going to be a little hard to generate showers or thunderstorms later this afternoon. However,

there are some indications that are suggesting as the boundary shifts further south isolated storms may be able to develop between 4pm and 7pm just to the south of Rockford - closer to Ogle, Lee and DeKalb counties.  If this were to actually happen the amount of instability in the atmosphere would allow for the threat of hail and wind to persist with any storms.  We'll keep an eye on things this afternoon because the only thing that could break this heat would be some much needed rain.  Hopefully that arrives this weekend!