MARCH 8, 2025 -- Just a reminder that we Spring Forward tonight as Daylight Saving Time begins. It's a sign that Spring is officially just around the corner, but of course, it also means that you'll lose an hour of sleep. Spring Forward is also a great time to replace batteries in your smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, and weather radio.
The weekend is starting off fairly cool in the wake of a cold front that moved through the region early Saturday morning. Sunday, a weak storm system will pass to our south, but it is not expected to have any impacts in Southern Illinois. Beyond that, ridging aloft begins to take hold, which will usher in a major warm up as we look ahead to the upcoming week. Additionally, this pattern will bring quiet weather for a good portion of the week.
By Monday afternoon, temperatures will be in the 60s. Then, through the remainder of the work week, afternoon highs will be in the 70s, as some of the warmest air so far in 2025 arrives.
The next disturbance that may impact Southern Illinois arrives Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Our region is likely to be on the northwest edge of this system, but there might be enough moisture for a few showers and potentially weak thunderstorms. At this point, I wouldn't count on much rain with this first disturbance.
Later in the week, a much more pronounced system is expected to track into the Central U.S. This will be a very robust storm system, that may potentially bring heavy rain and thunderstorms to Southern Illinois. It's still six days away, so knowing the finer details, such as the severe storm potential, is just not possible. I've already seen posts on social media calling for severe weather in, or near, our region, but those are just posting that information for clicks and shares. As we getting into the Spring, there will be more of those posts, just like we see a week or two in advance of potential snow events, only for nothing to happen. On bigger weather events, knowing some of the finer details is still limited to around three days in advance. That's a good rule of thumb.
Following the large system between March 14-15, there will be a slight cool down, but it will remain fairly mild. I'm still expecting 60s between March 16-19.
I don't think we're quite done with freezing temperatures. The average last hard freeze of the season in Southern Illinois is right around April 1st, so holding off until at least mid-April for planting is always good advice.
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