With cold dense arctic air well entrenched across the Midwest, Chicago’s official barometer reading climbed to lofty levels Saturday peaking at 30.86” around 9 a.m. This equaled the highest barometric pressure here since February 25, 1990 falling just short of the city’s record high reading of 30.98” recorded on February 16, 1989. Despite the proximity of the arctic air, some cloudiness and a lack of snow cover have held city temps just above zero Friday and Saturday mornings, but that is likely to change as a reinforcing lobe of the arctic cold moves in today and Monday. People willing to brave the cold may be treated to a display of the northern lights tonight or Monday night, a result of increased solar flare activity this weekend.
In the longer term, the cold weather is expected to moderate by midweek, but a “clipper” type storm system may bring a round of accumulating snow by the end of the week.
