THE WEEKEND STARTS LAME BUT ENDS STRONG...
On the satellite Thursday evening you can see a skinny band of clearing over central Iowa. Otherwise, much of the eastern U.S. is unsettled and the next storm to impact the Midwest is already bringing clouds and rain into western Iowa.That's the system that will get our weekend off to a damp and dreary start Friday.
Light rain, (if it's not already falling in your area around daybreak) will sweep through the region Friday morning. By afternoon as the system tracks southeast it is expected to end in the north but could linger near and south of I-80 into afternoon.
As the surface low turns east Friday night it should be close enough to keep lingering showers going into early Saturday morning southeast of a line from about Kirksville to the Quad Cities and close to Rockford. The EURO shows the rain band nicely at 6:00 am Saturday morning. The heaviest rain is falling in Missouri and central Illinois.
By mid evening Saturday the rain shield is pushing east and gone from my local area.
With this set-up Saturday's weather will be decent in Iowa as clouds gradually break up. Closer to the Mississippi (especially from the Quad Cities southeast) showers early will depart but clouds could be a thing much of the day. The further east you go into Illinois the worse it will be with scattered showers and chilly temperatures into the afternoon. Look at the expected temperature contrast from west to east on Saturday. With rain and northeast winds coming off a chilly Lake Michigan, northeast Illinois will struggle to get out of the mid 40s. Where the strong late April sun breaks out highs will pop into the 60s.
As far as rain amounts go, you can see the EURO thinks an inch or more from the southeast tip of Iowa to the NW suburbs of Chicago. The least amounts are over NE Iowa and into Wisconsin where high pressure and dry air keeps the rain further south.
Sunday, the storm passes and the majority of the Midwest will see a respectable day with highs in the 60s, fairly close to normal.
There my friends you have the weekend in a nutshell. Make sure it's a good one! Roll weather...TS
