Strong Cold Front on Thursday Afternoon

The remnant low that moved almost due north out of Mississippi provided cloud cover across much of the Stateline today. Where there were clouds temperatures were held in the 60's. Where the sun was shining across northwestern Illinois the temperature rose into the 70's. Clouds will gradually decrease overnight, and the temperature will bottom out in the low 50's. An intensifying storm system will move out of southeastern South Dakota early tonight into southwestern Minnesota. On Thursday it will recurve toward the Minnesota arrowhead, and spread heavy snow across extreme northwestern Minnesota into Canada. Snowfall amounts could be between 6" and a foot in that area. The Stateline is on the warm side of this system, so no snow will fall anywhere near us. The low will drag a strong cold front through the Stateline on Thursday afternoon. It will warm up into the low 70's ahead of the front, and there will be some showers, and possibly even an afternoon thunderstorm. The wind will switch to the west at 15-30 mph following the paassage of the front in the afternoon dropping temperatures back into to low 60's by the supper hour. Skies will clear on Thursday night, and the wind will diminish to 10 to 15 mph, but the temperatures will plummet into the middle 30's. It will be mostly sunny, and much cooler on Friday, with a high in the middle 50's. The low on Friday night will be in the low to middle 30's, and the coldest night so far this season will likely occur on Saturday night with temperatures dropping into the upper 20's to around 30 degrees.