40-degree day closes with subzero chill

After tickling the 40-degree mark in the afternoon (a reading 10 degrees above the day's
normal high), area temperatures head downward with the arrival of arctic air, gusty
northwest winds and snow flurries Tuesday night. It won't be horribly cold by late-December
standards -- over- night lows are pegged only into the single digits in the outlying areas
-- but subzero windchills will be the rule.
Looking ahead, computer models suggest a moderately cold weather regime for several
days. Moisture-starved disturbances, each with a bit of snow, zip west-to-east across the
region at 48-hour intervals.
RECORD SNOWS BLANKET
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
While Chicagoans and Midwesterners have been coping with their own winter weather
problems, residents of Oregon and Washington have had it a great deal worse.
Snowfall has reached record or near-record levels in 30 of Washington's 39 counties. As
of Monday, Spokane, Wash., has logged 59.7 inches of snow since Dec. 1, a December record.
Pendleton, Ore., has had 32.5 inches versus a normal of 4.8 inches.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist