Dense Fog Advisory, Cloudy Stretch Continues

Can you guess what were dealing with once again for the start of our day? If you guessed widespread dense fog, you are correct. 

The Stateline has been placed under a Dense Fog Advisory for the second time this week, this time until 10AM this morning. Visibility at times will be at or below a quarter mile, and will fluctuate from place to place. As you prepare for the day ahead, make sure to give yourself a couple of extra minutes for traveling. Once on the roadways, travel with EXTRA caution, and make sure to have your low beams on. Remember, traveling through dense fog with your high beams on will make it harder to see the road in front of you. 

Freezing fog will also be a hazard during the morning commute, as temperatures early on are in the low to mid 20s. Freezing fog is consisted of tiny "supercooled" water droplets that freeze instantly on contact. This may lead to a few slick spots this morning, especially on elevated surfaces such as bridges and overpasses. So just be careful out there this morning. Once the fog dissipates, that stubborn cloud cover is expected to stick around for the rest of our Wednesday. Highs will once again top out in the low 30s. But bundle up if you are going to be out and about. as a light easterly to southeasterly wind will make it feel more like the 20s. Conditions should remain relatively quiet for those driving home later on today.

I, like many others, are looking for a little bit of sunshine to brighten our days. But sadly, we haven't really seen much sunshine since the Christmas holiday. A peek at the almanac shows that 10 of the last 13 days in Rockford has featured sky cover at or above 80%. Half of those days being in 2021. Judging from what I saw on model runs this morning, it seems that this cloudy stretch is set to continue into the weekend. You know who you can thank for that? The lingering snow.

As moisture from the snow gets released into the atmosphere, it becomes trapped by a warmer layer of air just above the surface. With nowhere to go, this moisture then condenses into a thick layer of low-level clouds. Thankfully, hi-res models showed an area of high pressure settling over the western Great Lakes region this afternoon. With the placement of that high pressure system, the active sub-tropical jet will remain to the south of the Stateline. This will help keep away any disturbances that could bring us precipitation chances. Aside from the cloudy skies, the weather will remain quiet for the days to come. There may be a chance we see patchy freezing fog early Thursday morning. Otherwise, remaining cloudy with highs landing into the low 30s.