Low pressure moves away to the east, leaving in it’s wake a 1 to 2 inch snow cover over much of the metro area. North along the Illinois-Wisconsin border snow depths may be closer to three to 5 inches. This snow cover will act in concert with cold Canadian high pressure air masses during the week ahead to give Chicagoans one of the coldest starts to meteorological winter on record. High temperatures for the work week are forecast to average 15° below normal.
Yesterday’s high of 30° may hold as this December’s warmest reading until next Saturday. If that is the case, it will be the first time in 135 years of record that Chicago high temperatures failed to warm above 30° the first 9 days of the month.
While highs struggle to warm into the 20s here, the country’s primary storm track will be south of the jet stream through states adjoining the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeast coast where severe thunderstorms are expected today.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
