textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Mild temperatures in the 70s to low 80s along with dry conditions are forecast through Friday.

- Rain and storm chances increase this upcoming weekend into early next week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1239 PM CDT Wed Aug 26 2026

This Afternoon Through Friday: Beautiful Late August Weather!

A center of low pressure is currently spinning over Lake Superior early this afternoon and moisture continues to wrap around this feature. The wrap around moisture is moving over the area at this time, which is resulting in cloud cover increasing through the remainder of the day. Just enough lift may be present to generate isolated, light rain showers this afternoon. Rain totals will likely not amount to much and any showers that develop will not remain over any one location for very long. Rain chances for the rest of the day are only upwards of 20 percent and mainly for the counties in Wisconsin. The cloud cover along with the cooler airmass behind the frontal passage from last night should lead to slightly cooler highs this afternoon when compared to yesterday.

The upper level flow will become more northwesterly over the next few days as the main axis of the H500 ridge slides east from over the Rockies to over the western Great Plains. This pattern is not very favorable for rain chances, so the forecast is dry on Thursday and during the day on Friday. The combination of light winds, mostly clear skies, and increasing low level temperatures will lead to surface temperatures rising into the lower 80s for most by Friday afternoon.

This Weekend into Next Week: Rain and Storm Chances Return

Troughing across eastern Canada with another trough digging south across western Canada will begin to suppress the high pressure sitting across the middle part of the CONUS this weekend. As this occurs, mid to low level winds become more westerly to southwesterly which will bring positive theta-e advection to the region. Shortwaves embedded in the flow should traverse over the Upper Midwest this weekend and showers/storms should be able to form as a result. Timing and strength of the disturbances is variable in forecast guidance, so coverage of any rain and when the best chances will be are uncertain for now. There may be a low potential for storms to become strong to severe, but that will be highly dependent upon where the main axis of stronger instability sets up. The rain potential may continue into next week as shortwave troughs continue to drift over the region. Afternoon high temperatures will be highly contingent on cloud cover and the potential precipitation, but due to the continued warming of the low levels, highs could reach the mid to upper 80s early next week.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1233 PM CDT Wed Aug 26 2026

Low clouds generally around 3-4kft have made their way into the region which will linger through the afternoon hours before beginning to dissipate this evening and overnight. A few isolated light showers may accompany these lower clouds, mainly along/east of the Mississippi River. There is some indication of patchy fog developing within the typical trouble spots overnight though increased wind speeds above 1kft should largely hinder development. Northwest winds continue through the overnight hours into Thursday with additional low cloud around 5-6kft developing again towards the end of the TAF period.

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WI...None. MN...None. IA...None.