Not since 1994, when Chicago’s Dec. 25 temperature jumped to 52º, has a Christmas been milder than this afternoon’s expected high of 40º. Sunshine, too, finally returns to the city after nearly a week of cloudy days.
The sunny interlude will be brief, however, because the weather pattern remains active and another storm system, putting snow across the Rocky Mountains today, sweeps into the Midwest on Wednesday. Snow associated with that weather disturbance arrives here Wednesday night, accumulating an inch or less before heading rapidly off to the east by early Thursday.
Computer models indicate a more vigorous disturbance arrives on Friday with the potential to deliver a few inches of snow. Temperatures, though, will be critical, and a rain/snow mix is not out of the question.
--By Richard Koeneman, 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.
