Area forecast discussion National Weather Service Lincoln Illinois 645 PM CDT Sat may 18 2013 Discussion... issued 250 PM CDT Sat may 18 2013 upper trough digging in over Rocky Mountains the start of a developing low pressure storm system that will keep central and southeastern Illinois in rain chances through middle week. For now...quasi stationary boundary to the north and plenty of warm air over the region...with 11c-12c at 850 and partly cloudy skies. Temperatures at middle levels on the rise for the next couple of days as that surface low gets a little deeper and southerly flow ahead of it anchors much of Illinois firmly in the warm sector. Quasi stationary boundary may drift a bit with mesoscale influence of any ts that may develop...but for the most part...severe threat for tomorrow confined to west/northwest closer to the low itself. For Monday...threat more widespread as the low is slow to progress out of the Midwest. Short term...tonight through tomorrow... southerly flow and very warm temperatures tomorrow...upper 80s and close to 90 as the 850mb temperatures rise to 16-17c. Heat for the northwest going to be influenced by any ts/outflow/afternoon development of precipitation. Though there is a chance for ts in the afternoon northwest of the Illinois River valley...the majority of the threat will be after 00z tomorrow evening. However...much of this is based on the slower GFS solution with the storm genesis to the SW. Moderate risk in the SW...with much of the severe activity here being less widespread in nature...and modified a bit as it moves further away from the upper level support/dryline/mid level jet maximum that is far Superior in the SW. Long term...Monday through Friday... as the upper low drifts closer to the region...chances for precipitation and severe weather spread to entire County Warning Area for Monday. Ts chances best in the afternoon...and wind and hail are the main threats...though much of that hinges on the available instability and location of middle level wind maximum. Rain/ts chances continue through Wednesday evening as a cold front slowly progresses through the region Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Upper low slowly gets out of here thur/Fri. And though GFS/European model (ecmwf) trying to spin up some weak showers...leaving them out for now as region will be under a building high briefly as another low digs in over the West Coast late Thursday. && Aviation... issued 645 PM CDT Sat may 18 2013 Diurnal cumulus will continue to dissipate over the next couple of hours...resulting in mostly clear skies at the kilx terminals this evening. Lead short-wave ahead of broad western Continental U.S. Upper trough will approach from the west late tonight...spreading middle clouds back into the area. Based on NAM relative humidity profiles and satellite timing tools...it appears ceilings of around 7000ft will return to kspi by 06z...then further east to kcmi by 10z. This cloud cover will track across the area and eventually dissipate later Sunday morning...leaving behind partly sunny skies for the afternoon. Will have to watch for fog development tonight...as low-levels remain moist and winds are expected to be rather light. Given presence of clouds spreading in from the west and a continued southeast breeze of around 5kt...have only lowered visbys to around 2-3sm after 09z. Any fog will quickly burn off Sunday morning...as winds veer to the S and increase into the 10-15kt range by afternoon. Barnes && Ilx watches/warnings/advisories... none. && $$