Chicago weather: Twin snow storms to miss city but arctic chill will hit hard

Chicago weather: Thursday morning forecast

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

CHICAGO - Two snowstorms will be laying down a swath of plowable snow, oriented northwest to southeast across the Midwest between tonight and Saturday night. The question is how far north will that snow reach. 

Chicago weather forecast

What we know:

Let’s start with today. Skies will be mostly cloudy and it will be cold with highs reaching only into the mid 20s. 

The first snow storm will be moving through the region tonight into tomorrow morning. Most computer models with which I agree keep the majority of the sticking snow southwest of Chicago, possibly producing a couple of inches in our far-southwestern counties. Any snow will end as some flurries tomorrow during the afternoon and evening. 

There will be plenty of cloud cover on Friday with highs in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees.

The next snowstorm is continuing to trend farther south into central Illinois for late Friday night through Saturday afternoon. Once again, the farther southwest you go in our viewing area, the higher the chances are for some measurable snowfall. 

At present, I continue to lean toward less snow for our viewing area but should either or both of these storms end up even only 100 miles farther north, the footprint of snow would be much greater in our area. I think that is a less-likely scenario. 

Cold is coming

What's next:

What is unstoppable is the cold due here over the weekend. Highs both Saturday and Sunday will be barely in the double digits.

Windchills might bottom out close to 20° below zero. 

The good news regarding temperatures is that a pattern shift is looking increasingly likely heading into next week which would bring milder air into our area and shut off the persistent barrage of snowmakers.