Rain chances return ahead of weekend cooldown

For a 5th day in a row, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin was treated to beautiful blue skies, lots of sunshine, and pleasant temperatures. 

Changes are on the horizon as high pressure continues to loosen its grip on our atmosphere. This will allow a cold front to sweep through sometime this evening, resulting in our next chance for showers but also our next shot at fall-like temperatures.

Thursday begins with plenty of sunshine, though we can expect a gradual increase in cloud cover to take place shortly after the midday hours. Forecast models then show a few isolated showers, possibly a thunderstorm or two sparking up along said cold front. This would mainly be for the late afternoon and evening hours. Any rain that does occur will be brief in nature and should end well before the midnight hour. Ahead of today's frontal passage, afternoon temperatures should peak in low 80s. 

More changes follow today's cold front as the coolest air of the season thus far filters in. Cloud cover hangs tight for a good chunk of our Friday, though sunshine will occasionally peak through. 

That, along with a rather organized northerly breeze will leave afternoon temperatures struggling to climb out of the 60s. Now, the newly introduced cooler air aloft will aid in the development of an additional round of showers, mainly during the afternoon or early evening hours. Temperatures aloft continue to cool into the weekend, leaving overnight lows Friday in the mid 40s, and afternoon highs Saturday into the upper 60s. Coolest air arrives Saturday night, landing lows in the low 40s. For those wondering, these are temperatures we typically see in early October.