Clouds to return Monday as temperatures slowly warm

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - From a sunshine standpoint, this weekend was a winner, with wall-to-wall sunshine featured both Saturday and Sunday. From a temperature standpoint, there’s at least some room for debate.

Saturday saw temperatures fall well short of normal during the daytime as a stout northwest wind ushered in much colder air to the region. Sunday, by comparison, saw a noticeable recovery, as temperatures topped out at 39°, right on par with December 4 normal levels.

Sunshine’s soon to leave us in favor of cloud cover. In fact, clouds are likely to overspread the area, at least in partial form, by no later than the midnight hour. The silver lining? Between the cloud cover and a southwesterly wind remaining intact, temperatures will be much slower to fall, only heading for the middle to upper 20s.

While cloudiness will be with us for most, if not all of our Monday, don’t totally write off the possibility of mixed sunshine emerging from time to time. Sun or no sun, the presence of a southerly wind, at least for the first half to two-thirds of the day, should allow temperatures to reach the lower 40s.

Not a whole lot appears likely to change Tuesday, at least in the temperature and cloud cover department. A few notes of interest regarding Tuesday. First of all, it’s possible we may awaken to a few flurries or light snow showers. At this point, accumulations do not appear to be of any concern. Secondly, there’s to be much more of an easterly component to our wind, which will bring us an ever-so-slight reduction in temperatures. Expect a high temperature Tuesday of around 41°. Lastly, another disturbance approaching from the southwest could touch off another round of precipitation, more likely in the form of rain.

This disturbance is to kick off what’s likely to become more of an active pattern in the days that follow. A slight chance for a rain or snow should is in the forecast Wednesday, while chances increase considerably Thursday into Friday. Were there to be a chance for any snow to stick here in the week ahead, it’d come Thursday evening or overnight.

Looking into the longer range period of the forecast, it appears likely that milder than normal temperatures will remain in place through the middle portion of the month. That’s not to say there won’t be cold days. Almost certainly, there will! But overall, the pattern appears to feature more milder days than chilly ones.

The pattern could very well remain active through mid-December as well. Longer range outlooks suggest above normal precipitation is a decent bet through the middle of the month. The million dollar question centers on whether precipitation comes as rain, snow, or a mixture of the two, given the milder than normal temperatures likely to be around.

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