The quiet weather this week will turn a little more active for parts of the Midwest next week

The weather pattern early next week could turn a little more rainy and stormy across the Midwest and lower Great Lakes.  A cold front will move through Illinois Saturday and settle across central/southern Illinois Sunday.  Low pressure developing in the Central Plains will lift the front back north as a warm front Monday morning with the front then stalling somewhere either in Illinois or further north in Wisconsin.  The American GFS model has the front lifting north in Wisconsin with temperatures rising well into the 60s for next Monday and Tuesday as each new low moves through Iowa and Illinois.  The European model lifts the front north Monday but then settles it south of the Wisconsin/Illinois border with a chilly, east wind developing early next week and highs not rising much past 50°.  Heavy rainfall, likely over an inch to inch and a half, will be possible from parts of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and even the central Plains depending on where exactly the fronts lies.  For now the extended forecast calls for showers with a few thunderstorms Monday through next Wednesday with highs in the low 50s.  Not every day next week will experience rain and there are likely to be many dry hours but it does look like a more typical 'spring pattern' will be in full swing.