Year’s last storm to be a wet one here

As 2006 edges toward its close, the last major weather-maker of the year to affect Chicago is entering the Pacific Northwest. The storm has already produced 2-3” of rain along the Oregon and northern California coasts including 2.77” at Coos Bay in southwest Oregon. As the storm moves into the Rockies it is expected to be a heavy snow producer, and the Denver area, just recovering from a mammoth pre-Christmas blizzard, is once again preparing for more than a foot of snow. In Chicago, the weather will be warming up again in the next few day as southerly winds develop in advance of the storm, bringing rain here. No measurable snow has fallen in Chicago since Dec. 1, something that has happened in only three other years since 1884 (1889,1894 and 1912). The string of snow-free days should continue until at least New Year’s Eve. The rain could become heavy at times by the weekend, and even some rare December thunderstorms can’t be ruled out. --By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist