A Brief Break Arrives Before the Heat Ramps Up for the Holiday Weekend

June By the Numbers:

What more can we say about the month of June besides it was one for the record books. June 2021 is officially the 4th hottest, and 6th driest on record for the Rockford area. Similar to how we started off the month of June, the first several days of July features a quick jump in daily high temperatures with rain chances remaining low. 

Brief Break From the Humidity:

Before we get into the holiday heat, a secondary cold front is sliding through the area this morning. Behind it, a cooler, drier, and less humid air-mass is expected to filter into the Great Lakes region today, with our neck of the woods seeing the full-extent of this air-mass by Friday. Under a mix of clouds and sunshine, temperatures to kick off the month of July will top out near seasonable levels, which is around 84°. While this afternoon will be a little less humid, a northeasterly breeze will develop following this morning's cold frontal passage. Nothing too terrible, as gusts could occasionally approach 20 mph at times into sunset.  Friday may start off with a few clouds, but the sun is expected to return in full bloom during the afternoon with highs falling short of the 80° mark.

Summer Heat Ramps Up:

My advice, get outside and enjoy this brief break as much as you can because the extreme heat is expected to make a quick return for the holiday weekend. In fact, warm winds out of the southwest will help warm temperatures just above the surface as early as Friday evening, with the warming continuing into Saturday morning. Although rain chances remain slim over the holiday weekend, daily high temperatures are still expected to jump from the upper 70s Friday to the low 90s on the 4th. 

So far this year, The Rockford airport has observed 13 days with highs at or above the 90° mark, all occurring in June. From what it looks like, we look to add on a few more as we head into the holiday and into next week. The continuation of this heat all depends on a storm system that looks to bring a cold front through sometime between the Tuesday-Wednesday time frame. But models this morning were in disagreement with when that cold front slides through. Only time will tell. But just know that you'll likely need to include heat safety in any festivities you have planned for America's birthday.