Miserable week ahead: Rainy, windy, chilly—snow, too

Chicagoans know that lengthy periods of genuinely inclement weather—three or four days, or more—can occur in any season around here, but they are far more frequent and certainly more dismal in November than at other times of the year. It’s bad enough that November is a cloudy month (only December is cloudier), that its days shorten (by nearly an hour) and that the trend of temperatures is sharply downward (we lose 12 degrees).
It’s worse, though, when a powerful storm system heads into the area and stalls—and that is forecast to happen this week. Jet-stream energy entering the Pacific Northwest today surges to the Midwest by Wednesday, then persists.
This stubborn pattern will deliver clouds, wind and precipitation on no fewer than five days this week. And if that isn’t dreary enough, it gradually turns colder, and three days of rain end with two days of wet snow and flurries.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist