A String of Nice Weather and Tropical Storm Harvey Update

What started as another foggy day has now turned into beautiful scenery.  Some locations up north didn't see any fog at all, including Monroe and Beloit.  The reason for this was that winds were a little faster up north, at around 5-6mph.  Doesn't sound like much, but its enough to make it difficult for fog to form. Nice, sunny skies now dominate the Stateline and it'll stay this way through mid day.  Clouds will build going through the afternoon, but we'll still get plenty of sunshine with temperatures in the upper 70's to low 80's.  The skies will clear again for the evening, but then a weak cold front will move down from the north, bringing chances for rain during the overnight, as early as 1am.

The rain will linger until the early, moving out of our area around 7am.  Once the rain clears out, the cool inflow will continue in our area, keeping temperatures in the mid 70's for tomorrow afternoon.  However, we'll get plenty of sunshine to go along with it.

As we head into the weekend, a high pressure system will dominate our area, keeping our skies nice and sunny, which will allow our temperatures to gradually warm up going into the weekend.  We'll peak in the mid 80's by Monday, but our storm chances will increase Monday evening when a cold front moves through.  After the front, we're expecting cooler temperatures through the rest of the work week next week.

Tropical Storm Harvey:

Harvey has now moved back onto the land, but the rain keeps coming and moisture is now being pulled into Louisiana.  There's still some heavy rain occurring in eastern Texas; Beaumont being on of the areas.  Rainfall between now and Saturday is expected to expand from Louisiana

up north to parts of southern Illinois, and even over into Kentucky.  Rain accumulation between now and Saturday is much lower compared to the passed few days, but some places are still expected to see around 10 more inches of rain.

Harvey will track northeast as we head into the weekend, and more than likely will become a Tropical Depression by the time Friday rolls around.  The system will move into Kentucky on Saturday, dying out by the evening.  Total rain accumulations from when Harvey struck to when it's expected to die off will total 50" in a few locations.  Multiple flood warnings still in place in southeast Texas, with numerous Flash Flood Warnings now in place over Louisiana.

Pattern Change Next Week Could Bring Big Chills to the Stateline

An abrupt pattern change next week could take our temperatures from the 80's over the upcoming holiday weekend, down possibly into the 60's by the middle of next week.




Heat has been building over the western U.S. and will continue through the end of the week with high temperatures reaching 90 degrees in the interior Northwest, to 100 degrees over California and southwest.  Some of that heat could be pushed east ahead of a cold front into the Midwest and Great Lakes late this weekend.  This may take highs, especially on Monday, into the upper 80's.  Following the warm up, though, a strong low pressure system will develop near Hudson Bay causing the jet stream to dip well south into the Midwest and Great Lakes, pulling a very cold air mass southward.




Locally, high temperatures may struggle to make it out of the 60's following the passage of a cold front Monday night/Tuesday morning.  The chill won't last long, though.  Temperatures look to moderate back near normal into the following weekend.

It's Been A While Since We've Reached 80 Degrees

The warm days of summer have taken a little break this past week.  Highs for the past seven days, today making it eight, have been in the mid 70's.  The last 80 degree day we've had in Rockford was back on August 21st, when the temperature reached 84 degrees.  Since then we've been in a bit of a cooler pattern - a pattern that looks to last through the end of the month. 


We'll see a little surge in the temperatures tomorrow with highs coming close to 80 degrees, and then again by late Labor Day Weekend.

Beautiful Weather and Tropical Storm Harvey Update

Fog starting to clear up nicely across the Stateline with visibilities becoming much more manageable.  There are still a couple of foggy areas, but those areas are seeing the fog evaporate pretty quickly.  All the fog across the Stateline should be evaporated around 11am.  We'll see scattered cloud cover going through the day, with a chance for showers out east as there's a small area of instability just off to the east. 

Clouds will clear up more during the late afternoon, when higher pressure starts settling in.  This will give us more sunshine, and boost our temperatures into the upper 70's.  The skies will completely clear for the overnight, cooling us down into the mid 50's.  Our wind speeds will also drop, and unfortunately both clear skies and calm winds during the night are recipes for thick fog development, so we could have another overnight filled with dense fog coming up.  Luckily, the high pressure influence stays with us for the rest of the week, keeping the skies sunny and allowing for mild temperatures in the upper 70's to low 80's, with Friday being an exception as we'll only hit the mid 70s that day due to cooler inflow out of the north.  That high pressure influence is expected to stay with us through the start of next week, where we'll start to see temperatures warm back up again into the low to mid 80's for Monday.

Tropical Storm Harvey:

 Harvey's winds have increased to 45mph, a 5mph increase from where they were at yesterday.  The reason being that the system has
slightly moved back out over the Gulf of Mexico.  There's almost no friction over water, and this makes it easy for wind to flow more freely, and this why winds have increased a little bit.  Moisture is continually being pulled off the Gulf, now keeping the rain pouring down on the Texas / Louisiana border.  10-15" are expected in a few areas between now and Thursday, and some areas will receive a total accumulation from when Harvey moved in to Harvey dying down of around 50". 

The system will track northeast as we head into the weekend.  A pool of hot, humid air will settle in around Kentucky and Tennessee, and this will attract Harvey to that area.  That pool of warm, humid air will die off early on Sunday, and by Sunday afternoon is when Harvey is expected to die off.

Lasting Impacts of Hurricane Harvey

I can't even begin to wrap my mind around the flooding that has been taking place in and around Houston, TX these past few days.  Hurricane Harvey made landfall late Friday night near Rockport, TX.  Winds over 120 mph were recorded as structures were torn apart, the memories of residents blown away in just one night.  As the storm ever so slowly meandered over southeast Texas, intense heavy rain bands began to set up late Saturday and Saturday night right over Houston.  Over 15 to 20 inches of rain came down Saturday night and with additional rainfall through Sunday and Monday, rainfall totals have added up to over 30 inches in a few spots.  Thirty inches of rainfall!  To put that into perspective, the amount of rainfall some locations have received this past weekend near Houston are over their yearly rainfall averages.

There are many wondering why city officials didn't decide to evacuate the city before the storm hit.


Let's remember that the center of Harvey made landfall over 200 miles away from Houston.  ABC News spoke with Texas A & M Professor and director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores, Samuel Brody .  He told ABC News that Houston is prone to flooding because the city is on a 'low-lying coastal plain and the soils are clay-based, limiting drainage.'  Another factor, which Brody says is likely the biggest issue, is that Houston is a rapidly growing metropolitan area.  Brody says, 'Because of the rapid development in the city, the natural drainage pattern of the region have changed.'

Many of us may remember what happened when millions tried to evacuate before Hurricane Rita in 2005.  The interstates were backed up for days.  If over 6 million people (population of Houston) tried to leave on the interstate before the rain, the devastation and death toll would have been significantly higher.


Harvey has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but it's important to not solely focus on that.  The center of circulation is currently just off shore, expected to make landfall again Wednesday near Beaumont, TX as a Tropical Storm.


What we need to focus on now is the continued flooding threat moving over Southeast Texas, and now moving into Louisiana.  Over 3,000 people have been rescued from rising water, with 30,000 people seeking refuge in shelters.  Both those numbers will likely climb within the next few days.  Residents have been helping residents as emergency personal have been stretched to their limits.  The help needed in Texas is going to be needed for many months, and maybe even years, to come.  It's important we remember those that were also in the direct path of when Hurricane Harvey made landfall, in Rockport, TX.  They, too, have a long road of recovery and rebuilding ahead of them.  To help, you can visit the Red Cross website, or text 'Harvey' to 90999 to donate $10 off your next cell phone bill.  

Rainbow Photos from Monday Evening

Michelle West - Byron

Rita - Ogle County

Irv Bolthouse - Oregon

Lauren Carlson - Byron

Thank you to those who have shared their rainbow pictures with us this evening!  Here are the ones we've received so far:

Wes Shuckhart - Rockton

Monday Evening Weather Update

Widely scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms developed Monday afternoon and evening.  These were a result of an upper level low pressure system spinning over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  Temperatures at the surface warmed just enough to quickly rise into a fairly cold air mass several thousand feet above the surface of the earth.  While not severe, some of the stronger showers/storms did produce brief funnel clouds over Wisconsin, LaSalle County and near the Quad Cities Monday afternoon.  None of the funnels touched down.

As we get closer to sunset, the activity on the radar will continue to fizzle with only a few thunderstorms remaining south of Chicago and over east-central Illinois.  There will remain only an isolated shower threat into the overnight, but I think we could see locally dense fog develop by Tuesday morning.  That may be a bigger issue for the Stateline tonight.