All signs point to the strong possibility of an 80° temperature here on Wednesday. Were it to happen, it would be the first such reading since October 9, and it would EASILY go down as the earliest 80°reading recorded in Rockford weather history! Whether we hit 80° or not, one thing's for sure. We will obliterate the record high temperature for March 14th, which currently stands at 74°

As one would suspect, temperatures in the 80s aren't necessarily all that common here in the Stateline in March. In fact, they're EXTREMELY rare!!! As of Monday, there had been 3,298 days of March weather records going back to 1906. Of those, just 12 saw readings of 80° or higher, with 9 of those 12 coming in the month's closing week.

Doing the simple math and taking this one step further to gain better perspective, 80s account for a minuscule 0.4% of March's recorded high temperatures. Or, perhaps even more compelling, an 80° high temperature in March occurs once every 275 days. Roughly 1 out of 9 years produce an 80-degree temperature in March, and given the latest model trends, I wouldn't be surprised to see MULTIPLE 80s over the next week or two! Current guidance suggests this amazing spell of unseasonable warmth has staying power, hanging around here until at least March 24 or 25!