Preceding Wednesday's powerful storm system, an increasing wind out of the south pulled record-breaking warmth into the region. Officially, Rockford peaked at 69° yesterday, which lands 35-degrees the average high for December 15th.
Not only does this shatter the previous daily record high of 58° (1971), but it also tied the all-time record high for the month which was set back on December 3rd in 2012. If that wasn't enough, Rockford also broke it's daily record high for December 16th the moment the clock struck midnight. At that moment in time, the Rockford International Airport was sitting at a whopping 68°, shattering the previous record set back in 1984. With all of that being said, it's safe to say that record highs moving forward will stand thanks to a strong cold front that came through overnight.
The early stages of our Thursday featured quite a temperature drop as the Rockford Airport went from the upper 60s to the mid 30s. Despite sunshine being present throughout much of the day, a lingering southwest to westerly wind will keep temps near the 40-degree mark this afternoon.
At times, winds could gust up to 30-40 mph before subsiding a little bit further throughout the evening hours. Temperatures will fall into the low 20s overnight, climbing back near the 40-degree mark by the afternoon. Although Friday kicks off on a sun-filled note, clouds will be rather quick to gather again by sunset.
Guidance shows our next low pressure system tracking over central/southern Illinois during the late-day hours of our Friday. Along with the increase in cloud cover does come a chance for a few flurries and snow showers, especially along and south of highway 20.
The most our region could see out of this system is a dusting. So, this shouldn't foil any of your Friday evening plans. Once this system tracks to our east, our weather pattern turns quiet for the upcoming weekend and for much of next week. Highs over the weekend remain seasonable, climbing a bit higher Monday through Wednesday.
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