Chicago weather: Mild temps before weekend rain and possible snow

Chicago weather: Thursday morning forecast

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

CHICAGO - Today will be quiet with a mixture of clouds and sun, but obviously we’ve got to talk about snow. I’ll get to that in just a little bit. 

Chicago weather forecast

What we know:

Highs today will be warmer than normal and should reach the upper 50s. 

Skies will become a little cloudier this afternoon as breezes pick up out of the south ahead of our first storm system of the week. 

The evening hours will be dry, but sometime around midnight, an area of showers with a possible embedded thunderstorm will cross the area producing less than a quarter inch of rain in most spots. That activity will be gone by daybreak tomorrow and skies will clear. 

Weekend weather

What's next:

Friday may end up being the warmest day of the week with highs reaching into the low to mid 60s with a gusty wind. Then the fun starts. Saturday starts out dry but rain is likely to arrive during the afternoon. Highs will reach 50° but a shot of cold air is on the way at night. 

As that cold air arrives some of that rain will change over to snow and there are growing indications that it might get cold enough for some slushy accumulations, especially in our western counties. That round of precipitation should end before Sunday morning. 

Sunday itself looks quite cold with highs likely staying in the upper 30s, which means a chilly game at Soldier Field. 

The next wrinkle is lake-effect snow. It is still a bit premature to target exactly where that band of snow will fall, but it is conceivable some of it could reach the city as well as northwest Indiana Sunday night. 

For reference, the average first trace of snow in Chicago is on Halloween. The average date of the first measurable snowfall, which would be at least 1/10th of an inch is Nov. 18. The average date of the 1st inch of snow is Dec. 7.