More unseasonable warmth for most of this week

 It was an unusually warm day in the Stateline with highs once again in the low 80s for many, including a high of 81 in Rockford. This is more than 10 degrees above our average high of 70° for today's date. It was still a bit breezy as the remnants from Helene continue to pull away, but winds were weaker than they were Friday or Saturday.

Northeast winds will continue to lighten up a bit into the night and tomorrow, promoting some patchy fog overnight. A slight shift to a more Southerly direction in winds will once again allow many spots to warm into the 80s on Monday despite a bit more cloud cover.

This comes between the outgoing energy from the remnants of Helene to the Southeast and our next weather system to the Northwest. The next trough will bring a surface cold front Monday night which will bring a brief shot of cooler air. Rain chances along the front after midnight Tuesday look very limited, but a few spots may see a very isolated shower.

The bigger story will be the cooldown. Temperatures Tuesday will be more than 10 degrees cooler than the day before thanks to that front and persistent Northwest winds during the afternoon. Highs will struggle to reach 70° for many on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night will downright chilly as high pressure takes over. With very dry air aloft and at the surface, we will drop down into the low 40s and even upper 30s Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

But the upper-level flow will correct itself and straighten out into a more zonal pattern. This means upper-level flow will be directly West to East with few waves in between. This will lead to a period of dry and quiet weather heading into the middle of next week.

Temperatures will only be near or below average on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the rest of the week featuring more unseasonable warmth. Highs Thursday may touch close to 80° again before another weather system may begin to slowly cool us down into next weekend. Rain chances look very limited for the next week-plus, adding onto our rainfall deficit from earlier this summer.