779 FXUS63 KLOT 051931 AFDLOTArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL 231 PM CDT Fri Sep 5 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- A series of storm systems moving through the northern Great Lakes will reinforce fall-like conditions through the weekend.
- Generally dry and warmer weather is expected next week.
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.DISCUSSION... Issued at 231 PM CDT Fri Sep 5 2025
Through Saturday Night:
The partly to mostly cloudy, cool and breezy conditions this afternoon will give way to mostly clear, calm, and chilly conditions tonight. Our forecast lows are generally in the lower to mid 40s away from Chicago and the immediate Indiana lakeshore, where upper 40s to lower 50s are expected.
Saturday will again feature breezy westerly winds (developing by the late morning), albeit not to the extent of today. Most locations will top out in the mid to upper 60s Saturday afternoon, with a few spots in central IL up around 70F. A fairly robust short-wave will dive southeast on the southwest periphery of northeastern North American troughing Saturday afternoon and evening. Despite the re-blossoming of strato-Cu, forecast soundings appear too dry across the local area along with an inversion around 10 kft AGl to support shower development. Farther north into Wisconsin, isolated to scattered showers are favored. If any of these showers approach far northern Illinois from the mid afternoon into the early evening, they should tend to dissipate, though we can`t rule out a few spotty sprinkles.
Expansive high pressure will overspread the mid and upper MS Valley Saturday night, resulting in another clear and chilly overnight period. Lows by early Sunday should be similar to early Saturday, if not a degree or two cooler in spots. Both tonight and Saturday night appear to be decent candidates to have patchy shallow fog near ponds, streams/rivers, and over fields, though the ingredients don`t look to be in place for any impactful fog.
Castro
Sunday through Friday:
Upper level low pressure spinning over Hudson Bay and northern Quebec is progged to gradually fill and drift northeast late this weekend into early next week, with the larger scale long- wave trough axis shifting east of the forecast area. This will allow aforementioned expansive surface high pressure to spread east across the forecast area Sunday into Monday, maintaining dry weather characterized by cool nights (lows in the 40s again Sunday night-early Monday). Sunday afternoon may not end up much warmer than Saturday, though with sunny skies and lighter winds, it`ll feel warmer. As the surface high drifts east on Monday, modest return southerly flow, warm air advection, and ample sunshine will enable a nice warm-up into the low-mid 70s, with a few upper 70s plausible.
Farther to our west, ensembles continue to depict a cut-off low slowly drifting from the eastern Pacific into the West Coast and downstream ridging and warm advection gradually spreading toward the central CONUS into mid-week. Downstream of the ridge axis, ensemble guidance does depict a mid-level short wave tracking across the upper Midwest/northern Great Lakes region Tuesday into early Wednesday, with a corresponding axis of warm advection and modest moisture return mainly north and northwest of the immediate forecast area from IA into MN/WI. Blended NBM guidance does swipe far northwest and northern IL with some slight (
NWS LOT Office Area Forecast Discussion