An Active Week for the Stateline....

Cold Canadian high pressure which caused frost last night is shifting to the east tonight.  Clouds will be a factor ovenight, and keep temperatures from dropping any lower than the middle to upper 30's, so frost should not be a problem tonight.  A new area of low pressure will kick out of the central Rockies into plains on Monday, and will move to central Kansas by supper hour on Monday eve, and could bring scattered showers to the Stateline during the afternoon on Monday. A soaking rain will  occur on Monday night with some rumbles of thunder.  Rainfall totals with this system could be around 1" across northern Illinois, and more than that is expected across southern Wisconsin.  On Tuesday there could be some lingering showers and thunderstorms as the front associated with that system edges slowly to the southeast.  Tuesday night will be dry, and so will Wednesday morning, but by Wednesday afternoon the front will start to move back toward the north, and moisture overrunning the front could scatter some showers and thunderstorms back across the Stateline in the afternoon.  The low pressure associated with that system will approach the area on Wednesday night, and could bring some locally heavy rainfall to northern Illinois.  Stay turned to WTVO 17 and WQRF Fox 39, and our weather team will keep you posted all week as these systems move through the area.
By Meteorologist
Eric Nefstead

It's the 9th of May on Mother's Day, and the Day Starts with Frost!

FREEZE WARNINGS for northwestern Illinois, and FROST ADVISORIES for the rest of the are extend from 3am Sunday night until 8 am Sunday morning.  A ridge of Canadian high pressure extends from Canada through a center over Fargo, North Dakota through Iowa through another center in nothern Missouri, and then southward into the lower Mississippi River Valley as midnight Saturday night.  The Stateline lies just east of  the ridge with drier air dissipating the stratocumulus clouds that were across the area all day on Saturday.  With clearing skies, light winds and lower dew point air moving in from the northwest, frost will form in the overnight, and become widespread after 3 am persisting through daybreak on Sunday.  This frost event is likely to cause damage to the most vulnerable  sensitive annual garden vegetables and flowers.  If you have not covered them up, you may have to replant.  You will be able to tell by late morning the extent of the damage.  The strong May sun will boost temperatures rather rapidly on Sunday morning to comfortable levels by the noon hour.  It will be a very pleasant afternoon with some high level cirrus filtering the sunshine a bit with temperatures in the low 60's along with light winds.  The high pressure will shift off to the east on Sunday night as the next weather system to affect the Stateline develops over the plains.  Winds will become southeast on Sunday night, and continue southeasterly on Monday. with a warm front approaching from the southwest, moisture overrunning the front will cloud skies over  on Monday, and may scatter some showers into our region on Monday afternoon.  Significant rains are possible Monday night into early Tuesday as the warm front and assoicated low pressure storm center move across Illinois.  That is the first of two sytems that will move though the area next week.  Another system has the potential for producing some more heavy rains on Thursday night.  Stay tuned.
By Meteorologist
Eric Nefstead

Rainfall Amounts

Some needed rainfall moved across the stateline this morning. Here are some reports:

Sterling: 0.86"
O'Hare: 0.73"
Rockford: 0.68"
Rochelle: 0.60"
DeKalb: 0.38"

A few stray showers are possible behind a departing area of low pressure overnight and Saturday morning. Otherwise, expect a dry weekend with our next chance of rain coming on Monday night.  --TS

Temperatures Tumble

It's no surprise that the month of April was a warm one.  Even the beginning of May has started off pretty mild.  Unfortunately, that will be changing over the next couple of days.  Thursday's high was right at average with temperatures topping off at 68°.  Temperatures through the weekend will run about 10° below average with highs on Saturday only reaching the mid 50s!  We may continue to see temperatures a little on the cool side throughout the month of May and then really start to warm things as we get into summer.  I guess time will time!

Rain Almost Done

The heaviest of the rain now beginning to move to the east this morning as the low begins to pull into central Illinois.  Most locations across the Stateline have picked up between three quarters inch to one inch rainfall.  Some impressive rainfall amounts out of Van Buren Co. in Iowa and Henderson Co. in western Illinois of amounts close to 3"- 3.50"!  A few wrap around showers could linger throughout the afternoon.  Actually starting to see some clearing to the southwest in the cloud cover.  But I think we'll remain mostly cloudy through the day.

Uh oh - it's the four letter "S" word again!

....hopefully not for us, though!  Temperatures this weekend will fall below average not only here but all across the Great Lakes with our next storm system.  When I was looking at the model guidance this morning I didn't feel too bad about the cooler weather and rain in the forecast because it could be a lot worse!  With the cool air that will be pulled into the low, parts of northern and central Wisconsin could pick up on a little snow Friday night as temperatures cool into the low 30s!  While we are done with average montly snowfall totals, parts of Wisconsin can still average a "trace" of snow into May.

WTVO Loses Power

If you caught the 6pm news tonight, you may have noticed the screen in front of you suddenly go black and/or heard some sudden static. That's because we briefly lost power here on the far west side of Rockford! The outage didn't last long, but it did interrupt our newscast.

The question everyone around here is asking now is whether the wind caused it. The highest gust I saw on the RFD hourly observations was 37mph. There may well have been a stronger gust in-between hourly observations, but I'd still be somewhat surprised if winds of this magnitude were strong enough to knock down a powerline.

Regardless, it looks like the wind will die-down tomorrow and we should enjoy plenty of sunshine. More wind, however, is expected Friday night and Saturday.  --TS