Chilly Start to April

Temperatures this past week have been rather seasonable with highs warming into the low 50's.  But as we turn the calendar page into the month of April, it looks like the overall pattern will transition to more of a cooler pattern for the first week or two of the month.

Strong jet stream winds will move in from the Northwest and line up right over southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois through the weekend.  A blocking high pressure system over Greenland will help push the jet stream southward, pulling down a cooler air mass from Canada beginning Easter Sunday.

Temperatures Sunday will only warm to 40 degrees in Rockford with a few locations remaining in the upper 30's.  With the jet stream remaining close by next week a series of low pressure systems will move in from the west and northwest keeping temperatures in the mid and upper 40's.  Average high temperatures should be in the mid 50's but actual highs will run nearly ten to fifteen degrees below average.