Early week snow, mid-week cold, late week rain

Chicagoans may again experience 40° temperatures today, but it will be brief with afternoon clouds and subsequent snow flurries forcing readings back into the 30s. A low pressure “clipper” system will move southeast through NE Illinois Monday spreading clouds and the first measurable snow since Dec.1 over much of area during the afternoon and night. Some light accumulations may occur especially over grass. Tuesday may be the coldest day in Chicago since Dec. 8 with wind chills in the teens. The jet stream flow aloft is expected to once again realign into a southwest-northeast orientation over the central Plains and Great Lakes by Thursday, allowing the establishment of a southerly wind fetch all the way from the Gulf of Mexico. Mild, moist air will flow up the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and Midwest. The subsequent development of a strong low pressure system could mean heavy rains for Chicago next weekend.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist