An unusual high pressure blocking pattern has established itself over the eastern Great Lakes. Clockwise flow around this high will foster easterly winds over southern Lake Michigan and northeast Illinois. This rotation will carry warm Midwestern air into southeastern Canada and then rotate that air mass over land around to the south and finally west back into the lower Midwest. This pattern will recycle warm air and cut off moisture, leaving Chicago with a work week featuring only minor day-to-day temperature changes and low humidity.
The top thin layer of soils may start to show a little stress this week, but soil moisture calculations by the Midwest Regional Climate Center indicate that overall moisture values just below the surface are actually running a little above normal to a significant depth over northern Illinois. Meanwhile, this week the stagnant weather pattern will prolong the siege of severe weather over the southern and central Plains.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
