Don't get used to it. Temperatures dropping after today

Temperatures this morning were already near our average highs with a few locations touching close to 60° before 9am!  With a strong south wind, highs will climb into the middle and upper 70's this afternoon rounding off what was a beautiful weekend.  With that strong wind, some have a shot of reaching close to 80° along I-88!  For the record, our record high in Rockford is 84° set back in 1927.  I don't think we'll get that warm, but it will be warm enough.  Don't get too used to it, however, because the first of two strong cold fronts is set to sweep through this evening bringing us back down to reality by Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The front will also bring with it a few showers and embedded thunderstorms this evening and overnight.  Temperatures this evening will hold in the 60's until the front passes and then fall into the upper 40's/low 50's by Tuesday morning.  A gusty west wind during the afternoon won't cool us off too much, but we'll be a good 20 degrees colder during the afternoon than what we'll be today.  A second cold front is set to slide down the Great Lakes Friday morning pushing the mercury even further down with highs staying in the 40's.  Even though we'll be falling back below average, temperatures in the low 50's and upper 40's are actually closer to our average high than the forecast middle 70's for this afternoon.  Just to put things into perspective.