Wind Direction Leads to Big Temperature Difference Over Illinois

East winds, cloud cover and rain have done nothing for our temperatures Wednesday afternoon.  Highs reached the low 50's - still 10 degrees below average - but once the rain came in temperatures dropped into the low to mid 40's.  Unfortunately it's going to be hard to get much rebound for the rest of the afternoon.

The good news is the rain will be ending for nearly all of Northern Illinois by 7pm as drier air gets wrapped in ahead of low pressure to the west.  We've stayed on the cooler side of the front, but temperatures in Central Illinois warmed into the 60's.  The reason, a warm front in the middle of the state.  This warm front is attached to an area of low pressure currently moving into Northwest Missouri.  Ahead of the low the air mass has destabilized enough to produce multiple severe thunderstorms with several tornado warnings in Southwest Iowa and Northwest Missouri.  Eventually the severe threat will end to the west as the low pressure tracks east overnight.  This low will stay to the south of Rockford keeping us on the cooler side.

Thursday will be another chilly day with highs struggling to get out of the 40's for most.  But like today, south of the front highs will warm into the 60's and 70's.  The East wind sticks around through the weekend which will hold temperatures slightly below average through at least Sunday.