Pattern Changes This Week

Although is was 12 degrees cooler on Sunday than it was on Saturday, it still turned out to be a nearly ideal day for this time of year, with the afternoon high at the Rockford airport of 71 degrees. That compares favorably with the September 30th  average of 70 degrees.  High pressure ridging across the Stateline from Michigan will give our region a partly cloudy night. There will be some high cloud cover passing overhead associated with a storm system far to the south over Mississippi.  Later tonight there may be some patchy fog, mostly in low lying rural areas next to creeks, streams, and rivers, away from cities across north central Illinois. The overnight low will be in the middle 40's with a light easterly wind. On Monday high clouds will continue to stream overhead as the Mississippi low moves to central Tennessee by evening.  So, the Stateline can look for sunshine filtered through high clouds on Monday. The wind will be southeast a 5 to 10 mph, and the afternoon high will be a pleasant 72 degrees.  On Tuesday, the major low will be over western Kentucky, skies will be partly cloudy with a northeast wind at 10 to 15 mph.  The high will be in the low 70's once again.  On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning the low will move into Michigan.  It will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers.  You can expect one last 70 degree high on Wednesday afternoon before the cold front arrives on Thursday. The front that willo\ pass southeast across the will be a very strong one.  There will be a good chance of showers on Thursday with a high in the upper 60's as the wind switches to the northwest bringing considerably cool air into the Stateline for the rest of the week through next weekend.  Highs will only be in the low to mid 50's, and lows will be in the low to middle 30's from Friday through Sunday.  There could be some scattered instability showers Friday and Saturday as very cold air aloft moves across the area.