Slightly hotter Friday ahead with a rain chance this weekend

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - Another high of 90° in the history books for 2022 occurred today and we’ll continue adding to that book in the days ahead. We’ll warm up slightly for Friday and the beginning of the weekend before another cold front comes knocking. That brings one of the only rain chances in our near future as a potential drought still looms.

First and foremost, this is for any early riser in the morning. About a half-hour before sunrise Friday morning (around 4:50 a.m.), if you’re up definitely head outside and find the waning crescent moon in the skies. Surrounding our neighbor, you’ll see the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all aligned in order from their distance from the sun. This rare phenomenon has not occurred since December 2004, and this year, the distance between Mercury and Saturn will be smaller, according to Sky & Telescope.

If you miss the five-planet alignment in sequential order, the next one will happen in 2040.

Southerly winds will return on Friday and that will help get our temperatures back into the lower 90s with lots of sunshine. Luckily it won’t be too windy but it may feel a tad more humid but not bad overall. It’ll be great for anything outside during the day or at night but as always, be sure to have the sunscreen handy! We’ll have the warmer temperatures stick around into Saturday which will have highs in the upper 80s before a cold front comes through.

We’re currently thinking two different rounds of showers and isolated storms are possible for Saturday. The first one will come in the morning bringing mainly a wind and small hail threat before we get a break for the middle portion of the day. Currently, the Storm Prediction Center has the far western counties along the Mississippi River under a level one Marginal Risk for severe weather with a hail and wind threat. This would be for any storms that may develop in the morning and then again in the early evening along the front.

The key will be if we break into any sunshine during our midday break that will re-charge our atmosphere. This is something we’ll keep an eye on but at least we’ll have some dry hours. After the front clears the region before midnight, Sunday and Monday will be seasonably cooler with highs hovering around 80° and sunny skies.

Recent sunshine, warm temperatures, and lack of rainfall have resulted in evaporation greatly exceeding precipitation. This has allowed low-end drought conditions to develop across a large portion of the area. If dry weather persists, drought could spread and worsen in the coming weeks.

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