9/28 IL Migration Report

This cold front is big news, see?

Hey everyone!

Tonight, as the southeast-bound cold front moves through our state, it will slowly but surely bring more favorable conditions for migration (northwesterly winds). Already, west of the front, moderate to heavy movements are springing up on the radar, which only serves as a prequel to conditions here after the storm front passes over. So that leaves one question: how long will it take for the storm front to pass through IL? This is hard to say, but it seems like at the speed this front has been moving, it's likely that the front will be through the easternmost parts of Illinois by sunrise tomorrow, but I can't make any guarantees. Regardless of where it's at tomorrow, western Illinois is already out of the storm front according to my WeatherBug Radar, which means that birds are already moving out there. Any areas west of the storms with enough time left for birds to migrate tonight will likely

Migration west of the storm front, where winds are
favorably northwesterly, heavy movements are already
occurring. These movements will be in IL anywhere that
storms clear out of quickly enough.

see arrivals and influxes of everything from flycatchers to warblers to sparrows, and Western IL will be on the forefront of this.

Unfortunately, it seems that these favorable northerly winds are only set to last through tomorrow evening at the latest. At that point northerly winds, though weak, are forecast to take over the state starting in the north and making their way to the south. Looking at the Intellicast Wind Forecast, these winds will last at least through Monday, and probably longer.

Moral of the story: tomorrow morning is likely going to be the biggest period in these next few days for migration providing the storm front leaves time for any movements. So get out there! You may be pleasantly surprised...

Good luck, everyone!