A Rainy and Gray Week Ahead

We had some rain move in from the west this morning due to a shortwave trough.  These showers have been dying down as they try to move into our central counties, the reason being the wind shear difference between our western counties and other counties.  However, a slight rain chance is still in place for everyone else for the rest of the morning while those showers linger in our western counties. 

A warm front will move in from the southwest around 1pm towards our western counties, which will bring storm chances for Jo Daviess, Carroll, and Whiteside counties around that time.  That warm front will then move in a little further into the Stateline area around 4pm, which will then give everyone else storms chances.  The storms are not expected to be severe, and will begin dying as we move through the overnight.  However, they'll die down to rain showers, which will then linger for the rest of the overnight.

There's a slight chance for rain Tuesday afternoon due to decent instability, but a bigger chance for the overnight Tuesday night as a low pressure system from the west will be moving closer to our area during that time. 

That low pressure system is the same low that's bringing us the storm chance today.  However, it's going to strengthen during the week as an upper level low over the Pacific Northwest and an upper level high in the Plains will create greater instability, further strengthening the low.  By the time that low moves in Wednesday afternoon, it'll be able to pull in lots of heat and moisture out of the south.  This will bring temperatures into the mid 80°s and dew point temperatures into the low to mid 70°s, so that heat and humidity we thought that we were done with will sadly come back.  That, combined with the incoming cold front, will give us the chance for seeing some strong thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon.

A shortwave trough will linger afterwards on Thursday, so we may see a few pop up showers during the afternoon.  Friday will be dry with a small high pressure system settling in, where temperatures will cool off a little bit into the upper 70°s.  Going into the weekend, another low pressure system moves in, bringing us a chance for thunderstorms on Saturday.