The chance for thunderstorms will increase with the arrival of a second cold front Saturday early afternoon and evening, some of which could be strong to severe. The light rain activity passing through the region Saturday morning will continue to move east through Noon.

Cloud cover is slowly beginning to thin out over northwest Illinois where temperatures have warmed into the upper 60s. We should continue to see that climb as clouds thin out into the afternoon. Highs Saturday will warm into the mid-70s.

Showers and isolated thunderstorms have already begun to develop over eastern and northeast Iowa. These are tied to a stronger upper-level disturbance that is forecast to move through the Stateline later Saturday afternoon. The storm prediction center did expand the marginal risk for strong/severe storms to include much of south-central Wisconsin, along with north-central and northwest Illinois. With some of the clearing that occurs later today instability should begin to rise, helping thunderstorms to redevelop into the afternoon. As mentioned in an earlier post, some of the stronger storm cores would be capable of producing damaging winds and hail. Storms are likely to occur near and east of the Mississippi River around 2pm and will move to the east through 8pm.