Yesterday's Cold Front Marked the Start of a Dry & Comfortable Stretch

If you were set on leaving early this morning, the air had a much different feel to it. After a strong cold front passed through during the evening yesterday, temperatures and dew points overnight dropped into the 50s area-wide. Temperatures this morning were a good 10-15 degrees cooler than how we began the day yesterday. In fact, Rockford's low of 57° is right on par with average lows for this time of year. Yesterday's cold front marked the end of not only the summer-like heat and humidity, but also heavy rain chances for the time being. A stretch of comfortable, sunny, and dry weather moves in today and lasts into the upcoming weekend.

The rest of our morning will feature beautiful blue skies and plenty of sunshine, with a few more clouds building in for the afternoon. A weak upper-level disturbance will pass to our north, bringing portions of central Wisconsin a chance for a few isolated thunderstorms. For the Stateline, just a few more clouds and possibly an isolated sprinkle or shower between 3-6PM. A breeze will also develop by this afternoon, with wind gusts ranging between 25 to 30 mph. These gusty winds should slowly subside by this evening, leaving a light breeze for the overnight hours. Even with a decent west-northwesterly surface wind, highs this afternoon will hover around 80°, the average high for June 11th.

For the upcoming weekend, there's a two step process that will help keep the humidity under control. The first is going to be a backdoor cold front that slides through the region Friday afternoon. This will turn our surface winds to more of a northwest to northerly direction, allowing for cooler air to sink down from Canada. Step 2 will be an approaching high pressure system that settles over the U.S/Canadian border. A high pressure system spins clock-wise, so this will help continue to filter this cooler and less humid air mass across the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions.

Dew points for today and tomorrow will remain in the low to mid 50s range, before dropping into the 40s over the weekend. What does that mean? A very comfortable stretch of weather for the Stateline. In other words, a stretch where you can give the A/C units a break, and open up those windows. As this area of high pressure slides eastward over the Great Lakes region, it going to further help keep our atmosphere very dry over he upcoming weekend. This means rain chances are going to be slim to none, and the sun will be out shining. Temperatures for Saturday will climb only into the low 70s, with upper 70s expected for Sunday. A cool down that is going to lead to the return of summer-like heat and humidity by next Tuesday.