Wednesday was a busy day severe weather-wise as two rounds of showers and thunderstorms tracked through the region. The tornado threat was more confined over central and eastern Iowa, but a few storms packed enough of a punch to produce tree damage locally. Overall, there were 43 tornado reports, 104 wind reports, and 14 hail reports submitted to the National Weather Service. While we're not expecting severe weather this morning, rain chances do linger into our Thursday.
Along with yesterday's storm system is a cold front that is scheduled to slide through the region during the mid-day hour. But until this frontal passage passes through, our surface winds will remain out of the west-southwest, which will continue to pour in moisture into our atmosphere.
That is mainly why today's rain chances will be best during the morning hours, especially if you live or are planning to travel south of highway 20. Post cold frontal passage, chances this afternoon and evening will become more isolated, with the severe threat pushing more to our south and southeast. The southeast portion of Lee County and the southern half of Dekalb county remain under a Marginal Risk (level 1 of 5) for severe weather, with strong winds being the main concern. Cloud cover looks to dominate much of our Thursday with highs for most landing in the upper 70s.
I'll admit, this rainy stretch of weather has been nice, considering the fact that Rockford's airport has observed more than a tenth of an inch of rain the past 5 days. But other than a chance for a few showers on Friday, the forecast dries out over the weekend as an area of high pressure takes control. Long-range outlooks don't look any better, as the latest 6-10 day and 8-14 outlooks showcase below-average precipitation as we enter late-July.
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