US forecasts: mild, sunny Wednesday for Madison and Fort Wayne, showers for Bay Area
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Forecasters in Madison and Fort Wayne call for sunny, mild weather Wednesday, while the Bay Area expects showers.
The split shows how differently late-October weather is playing out across US regions.
Background
The material gathers local forecasts issued around Oct 20, 2026 by outlets including Channel 3000 in Madison, Wisconsin, WANE 15 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, ABC7 in the San Francisco Bay Area and KXLY in the Inland Northwest. Several of them describe a mild autumn pattern, with WANE 15's Greg Shoup noting highs almost 10 degrees above normal. The forecasts are trending as a routine check on what the next day looks like in different parts of the country.
How it unfolded
- Oct 20, 2026Madison, WI forecast: tonight's lows near 40 with clear skies and calm winds, leading to patchy fog in spots tomorrow morning; Wednesday warm and sunny with highs approaching 70.
- Oct 20, 2026Madison's Wednesday outlook: mostly sunny and seasonably mild, south winds at 5 mph, 10% chance of rain, sunrise 07:17 and sunset 06:07.
- Oct 20, 2026San Francisco Bay Area: afternoon highs below average, upper 50s to lower 70s under sun and clouds; tomorrow cloudy with a 69°F/57°F outlook.
- Oct 20, 2026Bay Area: scattered showers arrive Wednesday and continue Thursday, rated a level 1 light storm on the ABC7 Exclusive Storm Impact Scale with under 0.50 inch of rain.
- Oct 20, 2026Moosejaw forecast: a mix of sun and cloud, high of 13 Celsius and low of 0 Celsius.
- Oct 20, 2026Fort Wayne area: tomorrow's high 68°, partly cloudy, northeast winds 1-5 mph; tonight clear and cold with a low of 39°.
- Oct 20, 2026Inland Northwest: sunshine returns Tuesday; a weather system arrives Thursday bringing rain to Southeast Washington, Spokane and the Idaho Panhandle, with cooler highs in the 50s and breezy sunshine Friday.
- Oct 21, 2026South Africa's SAWS issues a heatwave advisory for persistently high temperatures over the Western Bushveld of Limpopo until October 23, with scattered showers in south-western parts of the Western Cape and extremely high fire danger in places.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Channel 3000 meteorologist Jason Carlson says Wednesday will be warm and sunny again with highs approaching 70.
- Official
- WANE 15's Greg Shoup says mild autumnal weather continues, with highs almost 10 degrees above normal through the workweek and weekend.
- Caution
- KXLY says sunshine returns Tuesday across the Inland Northwest, but another surge of colder air is waiting later this week.
- Caution
- South Africa's SAWS warns of persistently high heat in Limpopo until October 23 and extremely high fire danger conditions in places.