March temperature turnaround in the wind

March's open, as if taking a cue from a winter season that just doesn't seem to want to
let go, has made some news of its own. The month's first three days have failed to
produce a single 32-degree high. No March 1-3 period has done that for 31 years. But
Chicagoans face vastly improved temperatures in coming days. Wednesday's 44-degree high appears to
be just the opening act for surging readings expected to include a pair of 60-degree
highs -- or readings awfully close -- Thursday and Friday. A 63-degree high Thursday would
make the mild spell this area's warmest since last November. Though a second 60-degree
high seems a good bet Friday, easterly lake breezes threaten to deliver chilly shoreline fog
in the afternoon.
Early season warmth is always vulnerable to a number of meteorological factors. Clouds
can block sunlight and limit warming or winds can shift off Lake Michigan's icy waters.
But strong south winds, plus broad subsidence of air beneath the nose of powerhouse jet
stream winds, support predictions of strong warming Thursday. And with atmospheric moisture
expected to surge during the day, the air mass is likely to take on the feel -- even the
smell -- of those first warm surges of spring.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune