Cooler & Breezy Thursday, Few Flurries Late

Cooling Back Down:

What could have been better than Tuesday's sunshine and 40° temps? Highs in the 50s... And that's exactly what Rockford and even those who live in Rochelle experienced Wednesday. 

This of course comes well ahead of schedule as our average high temperatures don't typically hit the 50° mark until after the seasonal transition in March. In fact, this also comes well ahead of when we observed our first 50° day last year, which occurred on February 16th. But as I like to say, what goes up must come down. The well-above average trend will lose it's touch a bit over the next few days as cooler wind flow takes over. 

Cooler & Breezy:

Allow for extra travel time this morning as a round of patchy dense fog has developed. The cloud cover that we are also waking up to this morning is all thanks to a storm system that is passing well to the south of the region. 

The southerly extent of this storm system's track will help keep the more impactful precipitation south of south of I-80. However, a few flurries and light snow showers cannot be ruled out this afternoon and evening. On the backside of the low, winds will be a bit breezy out of the northwest, resulting in a 10° to 15° cooler than Wednesday afternoon. Most this afternoon should be able to peak in the mid to upper 30s, which is still a good handful of degrees above average. 

Clouds remain in place overnight into Friday, with temperatures falling into the upper 20s. As high pressure approaches from the northwest, clouds will decrease throughout the day Friday, bringing some afternoon sunshine. Despite that, highs will end up cooler than today, landing below the freezing mark for most. 

But like I said yesterday, the upcoming downward trend in our temperatures is to be brief. The same high pressure system that clears out tomorrow morning's cloud cover will shift to our south, allowing winds to tilt more to the southwest both Saturday and Sunday. Highs Saturday afternoon will climb back in the upper 30s, with low 40s still in the works for the end of the weekend. 40s aim to stick around into the first half of next week.