But, cold frontal passage Sunday puts in motion temp drop to 45 by Sunday evening, mid 30s by Monday morning

A “BEACH” and “OUTDOORS DAY” AHEAD SATURDAY

Could be the warmest of this four-day 80-plus-degree streak and mainly precipitation free until late day

  • Showers and thunderstorms develop and increase Saturday night into early Sunday. Then temperatures dive
  • We’ll be unwittingly jumping onto the April thermal rollercoaster the back half of this weekend, but first we’ll have a warm Saturday and Saturday night ahead
  • Saturday will mark the 4th consecutive 80-degree and warmer day in Chicago—the first time we’ve put four 80-degree days together in the nearly 7 months since we last logged four consecutive 80-degrees and warmer days September 15-18
  • We’ll be in and out of sunshine with a well developed south/southwest wind assuring the warmth makes it up to the area beaches Saturday. And—with fingers crossed and computer guidance on my side at the moment—we’ll hope for rain-free Saturday weather until a few scattered showers put in an appearance in a few areas—mainly west of Chicago later in the day.
  • But things change Saturday night with showers and t-storm chances proliferating and rain likely to have impacted 80 to 90% of the area by the time Sunday dawns

BIGGEST TEMPERATURE SHIFT AND THE ONSET OF POWERFUL WINDS BEGIN SUNDAY AND RUN INTO MONDAY

  • A cold front passes early Sunday marked by shifting winds to the west/southwest. That wind shift puts in motion a temp drop which should see a 60-degree crack-of-dawn reading give way to a 45-degree temp by evening and to mid 30s by Monday morning. Showery weather Sunday morning winds down—even ceases Sunday afternoon—only to re-develop Sunday night into Monday. And, modeling continues to suggest cooling is to be sufficient to introduce at least mixed snowflakes in some locations Sunday night into Monday morning then switch back to spotty rain showers Monday afternoon before exiting.
  • Powerful wind gusts will approach 40 mph Sunday afternoon and may flirt with 50 mph from the WNW Monday—a day in which temperatures hold to the 40s.
  • Temperatures to sweep into the 70s briefly Thursday before more prolonged cooling takes hold into the week which follows

HISTORIC EARLY SEASON WARM SPELL

Saturday to make the 4th consecutive day of 80-degree-plus temperatures

  • Only one other year since weather observations began in 1871 has there been this many consecutive 80s so early in the season
  • March 14-18, 2012 logged five consecutive 80-degree-plus days

LAKE MICHIGAN — WARMER LOWER THAN A YEAR AGO

But, still above long-term average

Scores of record highs reported Friday as unseasonable, mid-summer warmth bathes the central and eastern U.S.

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