Forecast through Friday

About two hours ago, a large and intense band of heavy rain moved through Antwerp, and was heading north-northeast.  With this system, expect heavy rain with amounts in excess of a half inch, with some gusty winds including.  If you happen to get hit by some of the heavier bands of rain, expect rainfall amounts closer to one inch.  Here in the Antwerp, the band of rain dumped just over four-tenths of an inch, in a little less than an hour.  Currently, the clouds over Antwerp are just beginning to break, forming a raggedy appearance in the sky, with some sunshine peaking through.  As the surface low over Northwest Indiana moves slowly to the east, expect clouds to increase and become overcast once again along with showers and possibly a thunderstorm increasing in coverage over the area, especially during the overnight hours.  Tonight, skies will remain overcast as the rain bands continue to affect the area.  Lows will fall to around 51 tonight, as overcast skies will keep temperatures steady.  Any rainfall tonight will not be that heavy with rainfall amounts amounting to 0.25-0.4 maximum.  By tomorrow, the surface low will be located just north of South Bend right along the state line, and it will weaken and dissipate by Wednesday afternoon, ahead of the next storm system. Tomorrow's highs will be around 62, with areas farther east, such as in Defiance, will see temperatures near 65 tomorrow.  Most areas will see mostly cloudy to overcast skies, along with the renewed threat for showers.  Showers will likely still be numerous tomorrow, with some of the showers becoming especially in areas that see some sunshine, which will add to the instability in the atmosphere.  Expect rainfall amounts to be on the lighter side with about 0.25 inches falling during the day in Antwerp.  By Wednesday night, expect light scattered showers to continue even after the surface low pressure system dissipates.  Lows will fall into the upper 40's, around 48.  Skies Wednesday night, will likely begin to clear up.  Instead of overcast skies all night, expect skies to become mostly cloudy, especially by early morning.  On Thursday, highs will probably be higher than in recent days, mainly due to less cloud cover, and the fact that the next cold front will approach from the north on Thursday.  Highs will rise into the upper 60's and lower 70's, even as the chance of scattered light showers prevails along with partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies.  Overnight, skies will begin to cloud up again, as the next storm system approaches from the north.  Because of increasing clouds, expect lows in the upper 40's or lower 50's. During the overnight hours, the storm system approaching from the north will curve toward the southeast and east, while intensifying rapidly at the same time.  According to the GFS computer model, this low will intensify to minimum low pressure of 992 millibars by early Friday morning.  The intensification of this low pressure system and its movement will determine how much rain we get Friday, and how windy it will get.  According to computer models, this strong storm system will be located over the far eastern part of the U.P. of Michigan (near Sault St. Marie).  So I expect that showers will increase in coverage across the area early Friday morning and into the afternoon under cloudy skies.  I also expect winds to significantly increase early Friday morning, with sustained winds increasing to about 20-25 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph.  Not only will Friday be miserable with gusty winds, cloudy, wet conditions, but temperatures will also be on the cool side with highs in the 56-59 degree range.  This will make for a miserable day Friday.

For the long range, on Friday night, expect scattered showers to continue, along with gusty winds early on, but decreasing in intensity later on in the night, along with clearing skies.  Saturday, the intense low pressure system over southern Canada, will begin to weaken and move eastward, decreasing our threat for rain on Saturday.  Due to a major cold air mass moving into the region, temperatures on Saturday will be very similar to Friday's, with temperatures in the mid to upper 50's.  But instead of cloudy, wet conditions, expect partly sunny skies and light winds for Saturday.  By Sunday and Monday, and a warming trend will begin, with highs sliding back into the upper 60's and lower 70's.  Throughout next week, I am expecting a major ridge to move into the area, which could support highs in the lower to middle 80's by next Wednesday or Thursday.  This large ridge of high pressure, will become stagnant over the area for several days, before a major longwave trough digs into the central plains, causing the first in a series of storm systems that could affect us by the end of next week.

Ridge of high pressure aloft will cause above normal temperatures next week