Another pattern change in the works

It has been pretty cold lately and with snow showers falling earlier in the week, many have wondered if we'll ever get back to normal.  It does look like a somewhat warmer pattern will begin to take shape a few days before Halloween (and by warmer I mean closer to average highs in the upper 50s), but a pattern change may also lead to a little more rainfall.

The very persistent trough of low pressure that has been anchored across eastern Canada and the Great Lakes will begin to shift further east allowing temperatures to slightly warm going into the weekend.  Low pressure developing east of the Rockies next week will push a warm front through Illinois and into Wisconsin late Sunday night with the front stalling just to the north in Wisconsin by Monday afternoon.  Winds at the surface will turn a little more southerly (compared to the northerly winds we've had lately) allowing a return of moisture from the Gulf.  This moisture will interact with the stationary boundary causing widespread rainfall possibly over an inch in some locations.  Wherever the front sets up is where the heaviest rain will fall.  Right now that looks to be somewhere in Wisconsin and Illinois.  Hopefully the system will be out of here in time for trick-or-treating fun with the ghosts and gobblins next Thursday. -CK