Despite the warming, which will see temps returning to the 50s Thursday through Sunday—and within striking distance of 60 degrees over the coming weekend, this week will finish nearly 15-degrees cooler than last week.

South to southwest winds will blow through the coming weekend and become fairly gusty Thursday through Sunday. This is to aid in the warming headed this way.

While temps move to levels modestly ABOVE NORMAL OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK, a chill is to settle back over the Chicago area Tuesday and forward next week. 

Temps this week are projected to come in 6 degrees below normal this week with daytime highs falling from the 50s to near 60s this weekend into Monday next week back into the 40s Tuesday into the following weekend next week.

Precipitation is OUT OF THE PICTURE the remainder of the work week, except for a few possible showers Friday night—and a few more toward or during Saturday night. Of far greater significance is the threat of rain with two systems next week—the first in the Monday/Tuesday time frame and a potentially more significant rain system in the Wed night to Friday time frame next week.

Residents in northwestern France were also preparing for high winds that national forecaster Météo-France warned could reach around 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) across Brittany, Normandy and Pays de la Loire. CONTINUE READING