QUINCY (WGEM) – After a night with overcast skies and a few sprinkles, skies have quickly cleared to feature abundant sunshine for the Wednesday morning commute. Sunglasses will be needed as you drive to work. Winds have eased up overnight, but another Canadian cold front looms to our northwest. Shortly before sunset, it will arrive in the northern tier of the Tri-States, moving southeast. Just ahead of and along the front, skies will turn cloudier, and winds will notably increase. With the midday push of clouds and wind, daytime highs will be stunted in the mid to upper 40s.
Wednesday evening will continue the trend of mainly cloudy skies and blustery conditions, but overnight, a very few stray snow flurries may try to push into the northeastern tier of the Tri-States. If they were to make it far enough south to reach the area, they would likely only move over parts of Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler Counties in Illinois. This is only a conditional chance of flurries in that region, since dew points and humidity levels will be falling and will be very low overnight. Everywhere else across the Tri-States will stay dry.
In addition to the outside chance for flurries in the northeastern tier, a real taste of winter will arrive overnight. Low temperatures will dip to freezing for a wide majority of the region and with wind gusts approaching 35 mph at times, wind chills will become a concern. By the time you send the kids to school on Thursday morning, wind chills will fall into the low 20s for most. This will call for the heavy coats not just for the morning, but just about all day long. Winds will still be gusty from the northwest all day long, near 20 to 30 mph. Temperatures will also struggle to get above 40° in the afternoon, which means wind chills will hold in the 30s.
Fortunately, winds will finally ease up heading into the weekend, which signals that warmer days are ahead. Friday will be partly sunny with highs near 45°, so it will be a good day to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa or coffee. However, skies will be sunnier for Saturday as temperatures get to reach into the low 50s. Also, winds will weaken to less than 10 mph on Saturday, which will make for a great day to head outside and get a head start on putting up outdoor Christmas decorations. Just make sure you tether them down properly.
Sunday brings breezy conditions and cloudier skies back into the picture, but on the other hand, we get even warmer. Temperatures look to run near 60° Sunday afternoon. Early next week, a moisture-starved cold front will arrive to knock temperatures back down below normal by Tuesday, possibly near 40° on Tuesday afternoon. For now, the Thanksgiving preview shows a signal for cooler than normal conditions, which may very well mean highs in the 30s for Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
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