Rain Chances Return Today, Humidity Slowly Departs Following Cold Frontal Passage

Hot & Humid Stretch:

The Stateline is coming off a hot & humid stretch of weather as the last 3 days featured high temperatures in the low 90s. Wednesday's high at the Rockford Airport of 93° marked the 16th time this year that we've observed a daily high of 90° or higher. This already tops the average number of 90° days that we see during the year which stands at 14 days. While the weather pattern remains warm and muggy today, a cold front is still scheduled to bring much needed relief to the Stateline for the second half of the work week. 

Rain Chances Return:

Not only will this frontal boundary help filter in a much cooler, less humid air-mass, but it's also going to bring the Stateline it's next chance for rain. While you won't need the rain gear for the morning hours, that can't be said about the afternoon. Much of the action early on has been confined to our north and northwest along this cold front. But as this front slowly sinks southeastward, rain chances will increase, especially after the lunch hour. Model guidance showed this upcoming round of scattered showers and thunderstorms continuing throughout the afternoon and even into the evening commute hours.

With the word "scattered" in mind, it's going to be one of those days where some locations miss out on today's rain chances. But thanks to the vast amount of moisture in our atmosphere, any thunderstorm that develops will have a high probability of producing heavy rainfall. As far as severe weather is concerned, the threat for severe storms remains low. However, along with the heavy rainfall will come the threat for sporadic strong winds. As this frontal boundary slowly pulls away from the region overnight, our rain chances will decrease, leaving us with a few linger showers during the pre-dawn hours Thursday morning.

Relief Moves In:

If you're like me and are tired of this grueling heat and humidity, I have good news for you. Behind this frontal passage, a cooler, less humid air-mass will filter into the Great Lakes, making the air feel much more comfortable by Thursday afternoon. In fact, dew points look to remain comfortable into the upcoming weekend, with just a small spike in moisture expected with our next storm system approaches. Temperature-wise, daily highs will fall from the upper 80s today down into the mid to upper 70s. I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to giving my A/C unit a much-needed break. I'm sure you are to!