Placement is Key

The placement of a warm front Friday afternoon will be key in just how warm, or cool, temperatures are in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  Earlier in the week it looked like temperatures would climb into the mid and upper 60's for Friday afternoon.  But that forecast has changed.  And it's all due to the arrival of a warm front Friday afternoon.


Highs on Thursday reached 70 degrees!  The first 70 degree day in 2018 and it sure did feel nice.  But during the day a cold front came through.  We didn't notice it so much in the temperatures, but rather with the wind direction.  The winds shifted from the northwest, to the northeast by Thursday evening.  The quick change in wind direction brought temperatures along the lake shore in Chicago down nearly 20 degrees in under 30 minutes!  And now that cooler air is moving further west bringing temperatures down into the 40's Thursday evening.


Strong low pressure moving out of the central Plains Friday afternoon and evening will have a hard time pulling the front, that is currently in central Illinois, back north.  This will most likely keep the strong east winds in place over much of northern Illinois, which will unfortunately hold temperatures in the 50's.  South of the front temperatures will reach the 60's and even 70's.  That may occur for our far southern viewing area of Whiteside, Lee and DeKalb counties.


If the front is able to lift a little further north then temperatures would climb further near the state line, but at this point that doesn't look to occur.  A chilly, cloudy and at times rainy Friday afternoon is in store.