We asked Mother Nature “Trick or Treat?” and she decided to give us a trick this year… Rockford’s high temperature officially topped out at 38° today, tying our 4th coldest Halloween on record! The airport also recorded a trace amount of snow, which marks only the 9th time that has happened on October 31st!

Skies are clearing following the snow from earlier today, as temperatures will continue to fall into the low 20s overnight. Wind chills will settle near 20° with lightening winds.

Clearing skies overnight leads to a bit more sunshine tomorrow, but highs remain stuck in the low 40s. It will not be as windy as it was today, but breezy West winds keep things feeling chilly.

The good news is moderating temperatures will slowly tug our temperatures closer to average for this time of year (low to mid-50s for highs) as we head into the weekend. This is due to zonal flow aloft where the jet stream becomes less wavy and straighter West to East flow. But this will also allow multiple impulses of energy to work in for the weekend and beyond, leading to at least scattered rain chances on more days than not following Friday.

Temperatures will slowly rise day by day heading into the weekend with even lows reaching the 40s by Friday night. Rain chances also increase after Friday as a result of the zonal flow bringing a bit more moisture into the region.