Thanksgiving Day's flurries and the period of light snow the night before have put the first measurable snowfalls into the record books here. Measurable snow -- defined as an accumulation of 0.1" or more -- hadn't occurred since 3" fell 7 months ago on April 11. O'Hare reported 0.3" Wednesday night and Thursday while 0.1" fell at Midway. Lake-effect snows whitened the Indiana/Michigan snowbelt from Porter County to areas east Thursday. By evening, Benton Harbor, Mich., reported 4.5" while Rolling Prairie and South Haven came in with 4"; South Bend, Ind., logged 2.7".
Thursday's 33-degree high was Chicago's coldest since April. A second day of 30s is predicted Friday.
North America's highly "amplified" or wavy jet stream pattern is behind the chill in the Lower 48 -- and unseasonably mild temps in Alaska. It was warmer there than in Chicago on Thanksgiving: Seldovia reported 52 degrees, Homer had 49 degrees, and Anchorage and Fairbanks both recorded 40-degree highs.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
