Chicago Thanksgiving forecast: Calm before the snowstorm

Chicago weather: Thanksgiving Day forecast

FOX 32's Mike Caplan breaks down today's weather outlook.

CHICAGO - Happy Thanksgiving! On this holiday, we could be grateful for the fact that while not ideal, the weather is at least fairly cooperative for local travel. It will be dry and not quite as windy as yesterday. 

That said, it will be cold and blustery with partly to mostly cloudy skies. Maybe a flurry. Highs will reach freezing. Tonight will be breezy and cold with low to mid 20s under partly cloudy skies. 

What's next:

Black Friday will have plenty of sunshine, but it will be quite cold with highs once again mired near freezing. Then it’s our snowstorm. A winter storm watch has just been issued by the national weather service. This will be changed to either a warning or an advisory as the event gets closer. 

There is still high confidence in an impactful and disruptive snowstorm, which will move in overnight during the wee hours of Saturday morning and continue all day Saturday into the night, likely tapering off by Sunday morning. This will be a widespread 6"-plus snowfall. 

Winds will not be as strong as they are today, but they will be strong enough to create some blowing and drifting. High temperatures will be in the low 30s on Saturday. 

With a few morning snow showers on Sunday, temps struggle to hit 30 degres. There could be some additional snow showers late Monday as truly arctic air blasts which will keep our highs in the low 20s through the middle of next week with overnight lows generally in the single digits, but some spots could dip below zero where the snow pack is thickest.