The latest autumn weather disturbance—the 2nd to sweep the area this week—is centered in downstate Illinois and has managed to send a surge of 70-deg air as far north as Kankakee county. Temps at late afternoon have reached 73 at Kankakee, 68 Hebron IN; 65 Joliet, 63 Romeoville, 64 Morris and 63 in Valparaiso, IN. At the same time, Wed afternoon temps have only made it to 53 on the North Shore at Lake Forest and 50 at Wonder Lake.
This weather system managed some snow in the Upper Midwest overnight—with 5″ reported at Grand Marais in northeast Minnesota’s Arrowhead region north of Duluth and a dusting of across sections of far Northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where Marquette report 0.8″.
Some showers are scattered across the area as the late Wednesday commute gets underway and a band of eastbound showers has included a few flashes of lightning from northwest and north central Illinois into southern Wisconsin—so sporadic rain showers will continue in the Chicago area, likely clearing the city by 8 or 9 pm with partial clearing and a gusty northwest wind to follow delivering a temp downturn overnight.
The Chicago area is done with rain after this evening through the coming weekend into next week as several days of chilly air settle over the area. In fact, modeling suggest widespread rains may not occur in this area until a week from this coming weekend.
Strong NW winds in the Plains and western Midwest, gusting above 40 mph at some locations there, are to shift into the Chicago area for Thursday with some 30 mph gusts not out of the question Thursday. But sunshine will be plentiful in the cool air mass.
All indications point to SIGNIFICANT WARMING NEXT week with unseasonable 60-deg and warmer daytime highs from Tuesday forward through next work week. The week as a whole is predicted to average 12-deg above normal.
HERE’S MY LATEST WEDNESDAY CHICAGO METRO FORECAST (11/8/2023)
TONIGHT: Showery spells ending later tonight (likely past 8pm in the city proper) then cloudy until clearing begins toward morning. Fairly windy and cooler. Low 41—with mid to upper 30s cooler inland locations.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, windy and cooler. High 53.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Mainly clear, a bit breezy and chilly. Low 38.
FRIDAY: Generous sunshine, not as windy—but seasonably cool. High 51.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY: Sunshine and some scattered clouds. Cool Saturday—5 to 10 degrees milder by afternoon Sunday. High Saturday 49. Sunday’s high 55..
MONDAY through TUESDAY: Generous sunshine with cool nights but warming days. High Monday 59. Tuesday’s high 62.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny, breezy and unseasonably mild. High 65.
