Temperatures quickly drop this afternoon

12:15pm Update: Cold front is east of the Mississippi River with a line of thunderstorms developing right behind the front.  While severe weather isn't anticipated any storms that move through may produce a few stronger wind gusts and brief heavy downpours.








Thursday morning started with sunshine but the clouds will quickly roll in by this afternoon as a very strong cold front moves through.  The cold front is passing just over the Mississippi River where temperatures ahead of the front have warmed into the 70s but Dubuque, IA has dropped into the low 50s.  A few light showers have been occurring along and behind the front with a line of thunderstorms trying to develop south of Cedar Rapids, IA.  Expect a few showers, and even a thunderstorm, remain possible this afternoon.

Temperatures by noon will warm near 75 degrees but by 3pm they will have dropped into the 60s with even colder air expected to be in place by 5pm.  Winds will remain gusty this afternoon with the southerly wind we have right now switching to a west/northwest wind by dinner.  The cold air will remain in place through the weekend with a slight modification in the temperatures early next week.

Strong Cold Front on Thursday Afternoon

The remnant low that moved almost due north out of Mississippi provided cloud cover across much of the Stateline today. Where there were clouds temperatures were held in the 60's. Where the sun was shining across northwestern Illinois the temperature rose into the 70's. Clouds will gradually decrease overnight, and the temperature will bottom out in the low 50's. An intensifying storm system will move out of southeastern South Dakota early tonight into southwestern Minnesota. On Thursday it will recurve toward the Minnesota arrowhead, and spread heavy snow across extreme northwestern Minnesota into Canada. Snowfall amounts could be between 6" and a foot in that area. The Stateline is on the warm side of this system, so no snow will fall anywhere near us. The low will drag a strong cold front through the Stateline on Thursday afternoon. It will warm up into the low 70's ahead of the front, and there will be some showers, and possibly even an afternoon thunderstorm. The wind will switch to the west at 15-30 mph following the paassage of the front in the afternoon dropping temperatures back into to low 60's by the supper hour. Skies will clear on Thursday night, and the wind will diminish to 10 to 15 mph, but the temperatures will plummet into the middle 30's. It will be mostly sunny, and much cooler on Friday, with a high in the middle 50's. The low on Friday night will be in the low to middle 30's, and the coldest night so far this season will likely occur on Saturday night with temperatures dropping into the upper 20's to around 30 degrees.

Sunny west and cloudy east

Low pressure spinning south of Chicago early this afternoon has left a pretty thick cloud deck across much of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  However, if you look to the west I bet you'll be able to see a little blue sky on the horizon.  There is a fairly sharp cut-off as to where the cloud cover is and where skies are completely clear.  Temperatures under the sun have warmed into the upper 60s to near 70 degrees while under the cloud cover we're stuck in the low 60s.  Not that great of a change but it's making for a fairly blah day across much of north-central Illinois.

Once this low moves into Michigan winds will shift around to the southwest ahead of a fairly strong October storm system currently in the northern Rockies.  A strong cold front will move through by Thursday afternoon with temperatures ahead of the front warming into the low to mid 70s but dropping quickly once the front passes in the evening.  Snowflakes are already flying in Montana right now where Winter Weather Advisories have been issued.  A Winter Weather Advisory has also been issued for most of central and western North Dakota while a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for a few counties in eastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota.  It's there were a few inches of snow, yes snow, may fly by Thursday afternoon.  While we won't see any snow the temperature will drop dramatically by Thursday night as some of the coldest air since very early spring arrives for the weekend.

Big Change on the Way Later in the Week

A ridge of high pressure lying across the area on Tuesday was responsible for sunny skies, warm temperatures, and light winds.  It's giving up a little of it's influence tonight as low pressure moves to the north along the Illinois/Indiana border.  High clouds are overspreading the area from the southeast, so the moon and stars will be visible through the clouds overnight. Temperatures will bottom out in the upper 40's tonight with light easterly winds.  On Wednesday the low will continue to move toward the north/northwest, and some scattered light showers could spread in from the southeast during the afternoon.  Once again high temperatures will be in the low 70's.  There could be a lingering light shower or sprinkle into evening  Clearing skies will develop after midnight, and it will be mild with a low in the low 50's.  On Thursday a strong cold front will approach from the west.  Temperatures are expected to reach near 70 degrees before the passage of the front by early afternoon.  There is limited moisture available for this system to process, so no drought relieving significant rains are expected.  There will be some showers, and possibly even some thunderstorms with the passage of the front.  The wind will shift to the northwest during the afternoon, and colder air will come pouring into northern Illinois from Canada and the northern plains.  Temperatures will fall back to near 60 degrees by late afternoon.  There could be some isolated showers lingering into the evening.  The temperature will continue to drop overnight, and the low around daybreak on Friday morning will be around 37 degrees.  It will be breezy and chilly on Friday with a high in the middle 50's.  The chilly weather will persist through the weekend.  There will be a little warmer weather early next week.

Finally! Some Relief From The Heat

September is officially in the books, and it broke a streak that has been in the books for a while.

The average temperature in Rockford for September was 62.9 degrees, which was one degree below normal. That's the first time we've seen below normal temperatures for a month in about a year! Big surprise, you have to go back to the 1930s to find a similar streak.

It looks like the start of October will reflect those cooler temperatures we saw in September. Despite some seasonable weather to start the week, a cold front on Thursday will knock temperatures well into the 50s as we head towards the weekend.

Temperatures tumble head first by this weekend

Temperatures by the end of this week are expected to nose dive from the readings we felt over the weekend.  A strong cold front will move through Thursday morning ushering in an air mass that will be running 10 to 15 degrees below normal.  Normal high temperatures this time of year should be in the upper 60s.  Low temperatures will also be affected with the mercury dropping both Friday and Saturday night close to 30 degrees, if not cooler. 

This comes as the jetstream buckles with low pressure holding firm in the northeast and another ridge building out west.  Potentially some of the coldest weather we've felt since early spring may right around the corner with highs only reaching the low 50s on Saturday and Sunday.

October: The cold, hard facts

The last weekend of September was absolutely beautiful and as we head deeper and deeper into the fall months those near perfect weekends will become few and far between.  Before we look ahead to the month of October, September ended the eleven month above average monthly temperature streak we had going!  It finished one degree below normal.  This was the longest stretch of above average weather since the year long warmer than normal stretch from January 1938 to January 1939!  Pretty impressive if you ask me! 

Now on to October.  The monthly average high at the beginning of the year is right around 69 degrees with the temperature falling to 56 degrees by Halloween.  Ironically, by the end of this week we'll experience temperatures potentially even lower than the end of the month averages.  Precipitation for the month is 2.67 inches and we've even added the four letter 'S' word to the equation where the average snowfall is 0.1 inches.