Looking Like a Nice Rain for Sunday NIght & Early Monday

Our fabulous stretch of comfortable cooler weather continued on Saturday with the afternoon high reaching the upper 70s under sunny blue skies along with light northerly winds. It will start out mostly clear early tonight, but skies will quickly become partly cloudy tonight. Most of those clouds will be high thin cirrus between 20,000 and 25,000 feet. Stars will be visible through the clouds from time to time. These clouds are forerunners of a weatther system that will move across the Stateline on Sunday night and Monday with the potential for some nice rainfall totals between 0.50" and 1.50".  It will be cool overnight with a low in the low to middle 50's. Sun will filter through the clouds in the morning, but there enough energy getting through to push the temperatures into the upper 70's again in the afternoon. The weather system approaching from the west could bring some widely scattered light rain showers to the area in the afternoon, but the real action will hold off until Sunday night which will be cloudy, and rainy with the potential for a few thundertorms.  There will be little or no wind early on Sunday night, but southerly winds will develop across the area and blow around 10 mph.  The low will be near 60 degrees.  Rain will linger into Monday with the most significant rains in the morning hours.  It will be relatively cool under the clouds with an afternoon high around 74 degrees.

Cool night ahead

Overnight temperatures will fall to the low 50s.  This is better than what we have been dealing with all summer, and it is a great time to give the air conditioners a much needed break.  The winds will be on the strong side as the low pressure system continues to push off to the east, and gusts could easily reach the upper 20s to lower 30s.  However, the winds will diminish by tomorrow afternoon.  Unfortunately, our rain chances are not looking to improve a whole lot, so it will still be quite dry out there.

Justin Pletsch
WTVO Weather Intern

Weekend Getaway Forecast

With summer fading and fall just right around the corner you may be planning one more weekend getaway - perhaps to the north in Wisconsin.  Most of this weekend is going to be perfect.  A little cool, but nice.

A large area of high pressure settling into the Midwest will pull cool, dry air south from Canada keeping temperatures in the mid and upper 70s for both Wisconsin and northern Illinois.  Saturday looks to be the best day out of the two.  Mostly sunny skies and highs reaching the mid 70s.  Sunday in northern Wisconsin should remain quiet but central and southern Wisconsin could be dealing with a few showers as low pressure builds in the Plains and moves through central Illinois by Sunday night. 

Dangerous Lake Michigan beach conditions today

Rip currents and water spouts will threaten the shores of Lake Michigan today and tonight as a strong area of low pressure moves into the state of Michigan.  With northerly winds increasing to 30 mph this afternoon rip currents will become a growing concern near the shore.  If you thought maybe you'd take a trip out east this weekend be prepared to stay away from the lake and even the bike paths along the lake shore.

Do you know what to do if you're caught in a rip current?  First, rip currents are powerful channels of flowing water moving away from the shore.  They typically occur in low spots or breaks in the sandbar and even occur on the Great Lakes.  To the untrained eye they are hard to spot so that's why it's important to know what to do if caught in one.  You never want to try and swim against the rip current because even the most experienced swimmer can tire quickly.  First and most, don't panic.  You want to swim parallel to the shore until you're out of the current.  Once out swim towards the shore.  If you're unable to swim out of the current let it take you out, then swim parallel to the shore.  Once out, swim towards the shoreline.  If you still are having trouble try to draw attention to yourself by waving your arms and yelling to get the attention of the lifeguard.

Second threat for today will be water spouts.  Cool air moving over the warm waters of Lake Michigan will help generate instability and allow for storms to form, especially early in the day Friday.  Water spouts usually remain over the water and don't pose a threat to people on land but everyone once and a while they do move onshore and can become a tornado.  As the low moves further east the threat for water spouts will diminish but rip currents and high waves remain a threat.  A couple water spouts have already occured this morning near Ft. Sheridan Beach and only lasted about one minute.

Illinois Drought Continues to Worsen

It's been a common theme the last several weeks. Showers and storms here and there, but not enough to help with drought conditions.

The latest drought monitor released Thursday morning shows worsening conditions for Illinois. Extreme drought conditions continue to spread, with more than 80% of the state now under that classification.

Wisconsin continues to see little change in its drought conditions. About 10% of the state is under extreme drought, including the Wisconsin part of the Stateline.

After today's rain, the forecast shows few rain chances, with isolated rain chances on Monday the only shot at precip we have over the next seven days.

July 2012 was the hottest month on record for the U.S.

It really doesn't come as a surprise that the latest climate issue from the National Climatic Data Center for the month of July shows it being the hottest month on record for the United States.  Drought conditions cover roughly 63% of the nation and wildfires have burned nearly 2 million acres! 

From the NCDC:

The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the hottest July and the hottest month on record for the nation. The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936 when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F. The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.


Precipitation totals were mixed during July, with the contiguous U.S. as a whole being drier than average. The nationally averaged precipitation total of 2.57 inches was 0.19 inch below average. Near-record dry conditions were present for the middle of the nation, with the drought footprint expanding to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48, according the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Click here for a complete look at the report

From summer to fall in a few short days

The current cloud cover will continue to thicken before possibly thinning a bit by this afternoon.  A series of upper level lows moving through the Midwest will help usher in below average weather by the end of the week. 

The first is what's left of overnight thunderstorm activity in Iowa.  While the rain shield has thinned a bit in northeast Iowa a 'mini' low has developed and will move into northern Illinois shortly afternoon noon today.  This will help keep the cloud cover around but also bring the threat for a few sprinkles or light rain showers by this afternoon.  A second and stronger low in Minnesota will swing through this evening.  Skies have been clearing in central and western Iowa between the two systems and it's there that strong to severe storms could develop ahead of the second low later this afternoon. 

The threat for rain will increase overnight into Thursday morning and it looks like a decent amount of rain could occur.  While model rainfall outputs have varied a bit the past couple days some locations could receive close to three quarters of an inch with higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.  The main upper level low will amplify by Thursday afternoon as it moves across the Great Lakes and if skies clear enough and instability builds the threat for stronger storms may exist just south of Rockford.  Unseasonably cool air will accompany the low and as that cooler airmass moves over the warm waters of Lake Michigan lake effect rain will set up for northeast Illinois by Thursday night.  Another threat for the shores of Lake Michigan will be waterspouts Thursday evening!