Strengthening Jet Stream to Bring Rain and Unseasonable Temperatures

A huge dip in the jet stream has brought cold temperatures and sizeable snowfalls to much of the West-Central U.S. and will continue to do so for the next few days.

By Friday, a large ridge will form in the jet stream over the Midwest and will propagate over the Northeast by Saturday. This ridge will pull temperatures up for much of the Southeast and will even contribute to mild temperatures for the Rockford area through Memorial Day weekend.

However, this pattern will also bring strong thunderstorms to much of the Great Plains just about every day through the holiday weekend and it will also provide the threat for showers and thunderstorms through the weekend for Northern Illinois including some potential severe weather late Friday.