Just a little on the cool side

A ridge of high pressure stretches from a center on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay  southeast across western Ontario, western Lake Superior, Wisconsin, Illinois, into Kentucky.  The ridge provided the area with mostly clear skies and chilly temperatures overnight.  Warmer air over the plains is riding up over the ridge.  That has resulted in some light rains over southern Minnesota.  There are also radar echoes over northern Iowa into extreme western Wisconsin where the rain is not reaching the ground.  It appears as if there will be lots of clouds today and limited sunshine, and temperatures will top out in the low 70's... just a few degrees below average.  The ridge will shift slowly to the east tonight and tomorrow, but will continue to control Stateline weather through Friday.  On Friday night tropical moisture from the remnants of Hermine will spread northward across Illinois setting off showers and thunderstorms that will persist into Saturday until a cold front shoves the activity off to the east.  High pressure over the southern plains will take charge of midwest weather on Sunday with sunny skies an pleasant temperatures into the middle 70's.  By late Sunday night another cold front will sweep across northern Illinois, and there may be some showers and thunderstorms associated with that front through Monday morning.  Canadian high pressure will follow in behind that front bringing cooler temperatures and mostly clear skies.

Rainfall this Weekend

High pressure will remain in control this afternoon as our next system begins to form out west.  The remnants of what was once Tropical Storm Hermine continues to bring heavy rain to parts of Texas and will slowly begin making its way northward.  While we'll likely see the cloud cover from this system tomorrow the dry air in place across the Great Lakes should be able to hold any precip to the south as the low "washes" out or weakens as it moves through the lower Mississippi River Valley.  As that one weakens the next one will develop and move through the Plains into Canada sweeping a cold front through late Friday night.  This will be our best chance at picking up on any type of rain.

Losing Sunlight

It's that time of year where the days are beginning to get shorter and the nights longer!  Sunrise this morning was at 6:29 am and sunset is at 7:18 pm.  By the time we get to the end of the month we will have lost over 20 minutes in the morning and over a half an hour at night!  I guess it's just another reminder that fall is quickly approaching and winter is just around the corner.  Dare I even say the four letter "s" word....snow?!?

This will begin to play a role in just how much we are able to warm up during the afternoon since the sun angle is slowing decreasing.  While the 80s aren't out of the question completely and yes, we may even get a few warm spells, our average high temperature is slowly starting to go down until we reach our lowest average of 27° in the middle of January!

Wind Gusts Today

Here are some peak wind gusts from today across the Stateline viewing area:

Freeport: 41 mph
DeKalb: 41 mph
Elburn: 52 mph
Rockford: 41 mph

I also received a report of a transformer that was blown-out in the town of Byron due to the high winds! Fortunately, the winds are expected to be a lot lighter on Wednesday afternoon, with peak gusts only around 23 mph or so. An area of high pressure settling in from the west will decrease the pressure gradient across the area, and less wind will be the (welcome) result!  --TS

Tropical Storm Hermine

Courtesy: National Hurricane Center

Tropical Storm Hermine continues to churn through the western Gulf of Mexico towards the mouth of the Rio Grande river. It's now less than 100 miles S/SE of Brownsville, TX and has maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Hermine is headed northwest at about 14 mph. As this map indicates, Hermine is closing-in on the south Texas coast, and will make landfall just south of the border sometime late tonight. A tropical storm warning is in-effect from La Cruz, Mexico to Port O'Connor, TX. Hermine could strengthen to a minimal hurricane before making landfall, thus a hurricane watch is in-effect from Rio San Fernando, Mexico, to Baffin Bay, TX. The main threat with Hermine will be heavy rain. Some localized areas could see as much as a foot of rain as Hermine moves northwestward into central Texas over the next couple of days. --TS

Wind Advisory for Tomorrow

The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for most of the Stateline viewing area tomorrow between 1pm and 7pm. The only counties not included in this advisory are Whiteside, Carroll, Jo Daviess, and Stephenson. Peak wind gusts could reach 45 mph or higher in some areas, making travel -- especially in high profile vehicles -- somewhat difficult. Winds will be out of the west/northwest, so travel along north-south highways and interstates will see the biggest impact. --TS

Viewer Photos

Thanks to Beth Nagel from Shannon for sending in this picture.  This was taken as the storms were moving away! 

Thanks again!

Don't forget if you have any weather pictures you would like to share, email them to weather@wtvo.com!