Wednesday weather welcomes the return of the 60s
CHICAGO - High temperatures and high winds take center stage for the next 24 hours or so. Two record highs are at risk: Today’s is 64° set in 1971 and tomorrow's is 60° set in 1984.
We open the day with road sweat due to warm, moist air condensing over cold pavement. There could be a light shower or sprinkle today but the majority of the time will be precip-free with cloudy skies.
Temperatures open in the 50s and will climb into the 60s this afternoon.
Winds will really begin to crank after dark when a High Wind Warning goes into effect for the norther half of our viewing area with a wind advisory for the southern half. Winds could gust to 60mph leading to minor damage and power outages.
A line of showers will cross Chicagoland during the wee hours and those may be accompanied by very high wind gusts, possibly prompting severe thunderstorm warnings despite the lack of lightning.
Tomorrow’s high will happen shortly after midnight then temps will tumble during the afternoon as winds abate. Sunshine will fill the sky.
On Friday expect some sunshine and temperatures remaining a few degrees above normal. A weak storm system passes to our south which could produce some light precipitation at night-mainly well south of the city.
If that system fails to deliver measurable snowfall in Chicago, we will break the record for the latest occurrence of at least 0.1" of snowfall in fall/winter. That currently stands as December 20th in 2012.