With cool Canadian high pressure over the Midwest and Great Lakes, temperatures over northeast Illinois will be hard-pressed to hit 60 degrees today. It's been almost three weeks (high of 55 degrees on April 29) since the mercury last failed to reach at least 60-degrees at Chicago's official O'Hare airport observing site. As the high pressure air mass drifts east, southerly flow will return on Monday, allowing readings to rebound to normal levels. A cold front could sink south through the metro area later Tuesday temporarily shifting winds to the east off Lake Michigan. But indications are it will move back north Wednesday allowing daytime highs to warm into the 80s for just the second time this year. A stronger cooling high pressure system should push the cold front well south of the area later Thursday.
A letup in rainfall this week
With northeastern Illinois soils saturated due to the wettest spring on record, farmers are still looking for an opportunity to work their fields. While showers are forecast Tuesday and Thursday, the dynamics of the storm-triggering fronts as well as available moisture point to lesser amounts of rainfall and a seven-day period of above-normal drying conditions.
