Warm, Windy Monday Precedes Big Midweek Cooldown

Mild and breezy conditions will ring in the new workweek before much cooler weather moves into the Stateline.

After a rather cool Sunday closed out the weekend, temperatures will feel much more spring-like for Monday. Late Sunday night, winds backed from northwesterly to southerly as they diverge from a system of high pressure that moved to our southeast. An approaching low pressure system to the northwest will tighten up the pressure gradient through the day driving up wind speeds and advecting lots of warm air into the area. The Stateline is seeing nothing more than a light breeze as of early Monday morning though wind speeds are expected to top 25 mph by the afternoon with gusts upwards of 45 mph. These strong, but warm, southerly winds will help temperatures to reach the lower, potentially middle, 60’s by the afternoon.

The warm weather and strong winds will be working with some very dry conditions to bring an elevated fire risk to the Stateline. Dewpoint temperatures early Monday morning sit in the middle to upper 20’s. They are expected to reach the lower 30’s by the afternoon but with temperatures forecast to reach the 60’s, relative humidity will be stuck in the 30-40% range making conditions ideal for fires to spread quickly. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for Boone, Carroll, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago Counties. This goes into the effect early Monday afternoon and is set to expire Monday evening. All of the formerly mentioned counties in addition to Green and Rock Counties in Wisconsin are under a wind advisory beginning early Monday afternoon.

Strong winds are expected to last through the overnight and into Tuesday with gusts upwards of 30 mph through the day. A strong cold front will move over the Stateline early Tuesday causing winds to veer from southwesterly to northwesterly. This will result in an early afternoon high temperature in the middle to upper 50’s as cold air will begin flowing in around the noon hour. The moisture-starved frontal boundary will only bring a slight chance for a few light showers Tuesday afternoon but the frigid air mass to follow will keep highs in the lower 40’s for Wednesday. High pressure approaching from the west will keep the cold air flowing into Thursday resulting in another day with highs down in the lower to middle 40’s. Some good news for the middle of the week though: the system of high pressure moving in will advect lots of dry air into the area resulting in a good deal of sunshine, especially on Thursday.