Rain Chances Best Tuesday, Summer-like Pattern to Follow

Showers Remain South:

When comparing yesterday's weather to Saturday's gloomy weather, Sunday brought big improvements including a mixed amount of sunshine and highs in the low 70s. However, thanks to a storm system that approached the region from the southwest, clouds were quick to increase overnight, with rain chances slowly sliding into our southern areas. 

If you're plans pull you out the driveway early on, you'll have a better shot at encountering a few light showers if you're traveling on I-88 than on highway 20. Dry air wrapping around an area of high pressure system to our east is helping suppress the rain to our south, leaving areas along and north of highway 20 dry. Any chance for areas like Freeport, Rockford, and even Belvidere to see a few light showers will be best during the morning hours, with dry conditions settling in for the later half of the day.  

Better Rain Chances Tuesday:

Rain chances will become more widespread as we head into Tuesday as both an elevated warm front and upper level disturbance lift through the area. In other words, you'll want to have the rain gear by your side as you step out the doorway early Tuesday. This elevated warm front looks to lift through during the afternoon hours, with a little instability coming along for the ride. This may result in a few isolated thunderstorms, however severe weather is not anticipated at this time. You won't necessarily need the rain gear all that much as we approach the weekend as rain chances locally become more isolated! However, you'll notice a more summer-like feel to the air. 

Feeling Like Summer:

Once the warm front slides to our north, high temperatures look to climb from the mid-60s on Tuesday to the low 80s on Wednesday. But check this out, once our high temperatures climb into the 80s, it's going to be hard to see them trend southward over the next 7 days. As a ridge of high pressure develops, pushing the jet stream to the north, a plethora of moisture is expected to swing into the region from the south. This will help bring a more summer-like pattern to the area towards the end of the work week and the upcoming weekend. 

Along with highs in the 80s comes an uptick in humidity. Wednesday and Thursday feature dew point temperatures in the low 60s, which could make it feel a bit sticky at times during the peak-heating hours. Dew points then look to jump into the mid 60s by the weekend, which may be muggy enough for some Stateliners to turn on their air conditions units. 

A summer-like forecast that moves in just in time for the first day of City Market. If you plan on participating, you may need to check the first warn weather app from time to time as a few isolated thunderstorms are possible. However, expect skies to remain partly sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 80s, most likely dropping into the upper 70s by the tail-end of the event.