Warm, Less Windy Friday Gives Way to Cooler Weekend

Mother Nature has put on quite the show in regards to sunrises and sunsets this week. This morning's sunrise however definitely won the "sunrise of the week" award. A moisture-starved cold front brought a few more mid-level clouds to the area right before the official sunrise time, which brought that extra pop in color. This was the view of the sunrise on our camera overlooking downtown Rockford. I mean really, what a lovely way to begin the final work day of the week. Thanks to this morning's cold front, temperatures for weeks end will end up a little cooler than Thursday. But conditions remain dry ahead of this weekend's rain chances and cooler temperatures.

Aside from the beautiful sunrise, all is quiet and comfortable across the Stateline this morning. The biggest difference weather-wise is how significantly lower our winds are. Remember, we woke up to very strong winds out of the southwest Thursday morning, with gusts upwards of 20-25 mph. Thankfully, that's not the case this morning. Winds are much lighter, this time out of the west sustained at 5-15 mph. Following this morning's cold front, winds will shift to the northwest, ushering in slightly cooler air by the afternoon. Under a mix of clouds and sunshine, highs will end up about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than Thursday afternoon, in the upper 50s. Overall, I'd still take some time today to get outside and enjoy the well-above average temperatures.

As far as this weekend is concerned, I think the saying "what goes up must come down" fits the forecast perfectly. As a high pressure system slides into central Wisconsin from the Upper Midwest, northeast winds will help keep the cloud cover in place over the Stateline. The combination of both will bring high temperatures to much more seasonable levels, with highs in the upper 40s. Much of our Saturday will remain dry, with the possibility of some drizzle during the late-day hours. With that being said, rain chances do look best as we head into Sunday morning.

Over the past couple of days, model guidance has really backed off precipitation chances, as the main low tracks well to the south of the region. Some areas south of Interstate 88 could see a few snowflakes as temperatures will be flirting with the freezing mark by day-break Sunday. But because of how warm temperatures have been as of recent, accumulations aren't likely. The rest of the day features mainly isolated shower chances, especially towards the late-day hours as a secondary cold front comes in from the Northwest.