Weather Remains Dry, Mild into the Upcoming Weekend

My goodness. You couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2nd day of meteorological winter. Yes, it's cold out there this morning. But that didn't take away the fact that we had the sunrise of the week (so far). In case you missed it, the screen-grab to the left was the view of this morning's gorgeous sunrise over downtown Rockford. Bringing our attention back to the cold, temperatures for the second straight day fell into the upper teens to start. Due to the lack in wind this morning, wind chills weren't in the single-digits. So, it didn't feel as chilly heading out. However, I would still dress for the weather this morning by adding on an extra layer or two to stay warm.

A few other things you can do to prepare for the cold is to make sure your vehicle is all set for the upcoming morning drives. Beginning with your tires. As the weather turns colder, it would be highly important to frequently check the air pressure in your tires. On colder days or nights, your tire pressure can decrease 1 to 2 psi for every 10 degree drop in temperatures. So before hitting the roads, make sure you tires inflated to recommended PSI value. Secondly, with mostly clear skies overhead, and calm to light winds, we did see quite a bit of frost from this morning. Turn on your vehicle, and let it warm up before you back out of the driveway.

High pressure overhead will continue to keep the weather pattern quiet for the middle of the work week, with winds remaining light out of the west-northwest. The concern yesterday was the wind chill, as much of our Tuesday felt like the 20s. That thankfully won't be the case today, as afternoon wind chills will be less of an issue. Under plenty of sunshine, highs will top out in the low 40s, which lands us a couple of degrees above average. For those late-day travelers, conditions will remain calm and quiet into the overnight hours.

Fortunately, today isn't going to be the only day that features sunshine. That same area of high pressure mentioned above is going to act as a blocker, keeping any developing systems away from the Stateline. Hi-res models do show a few more clouds floating into the area by tomorrow morning, turning skies partly cloudy for the start of our Thursday. Otherwise, Thursday remains dry with highs back in the low 40s. A developing low pressure system over Oklahoma & Kansas will steer south of the Stateline Thursday night into Friday morning. This may bring a few more clouds to the area for weeks end. But despite the increase in cloud cover, the weather remains dry into the first half of our weekend.