Chicago area could see first snow of the season this weekend thanks to cold front, developing storm system
The First Alert Weather team is tracking a strong cold front and developing storm system that will likely lead to the first wet snowflakes of the season in the Chicago area this weekend.
Following unusually mild November temperatures this week, a cold front sends temperatures tumbling this weekend. High temperatures Saturday hold in the 40s, then in the 30s Sunday and Monday with wind chills in the 10s and
20s. Sunday morning will likely bring Chicago O'Hare its first freeze of the season, coming more than two weeks later than average (Oct. 23). Monday and Tuesday mornings are forecast to bring a hard freeze area-wide with low temperatures in the 20s.
A developing low pressure system will spin up Saturday morning in Nebraska and move toward Chicagoland. Clouds thicken and cold rain fills in late in the afternoon into the evening. As cold air pours in, a mix with -- or changeover to -- wet snow is expected Saturday night. Precipitation briefly clears most of the area mid-morning Sunday, leaving behind less than 1 inch of slushy accumulation only on grassy surfaces.
A second round of flurries may redevelop on a cold, windy Sunday afternoon, then focus turns toward a band of lake effect snow Sunday night into Monday. This band will be possible in Chicago during this timeframe, but more likely in Indiana depending on the exact wind direction. In northwest Indiana, 1-3 inches of accumulation is possible with locally higher totals in this time frame mainly on elevated surfaces and untreated roads. Overall, travel impacts are expected to remain minimal with treated roadways likely remaining wet.
It should be noted that a change in the forecast track of this storm system will change who sees snow versus cold rain, so stay with CBS News Chicago for updates throughout the week.
Wetter "hybrid" storm systems like this one are expected to be more common than the dry Canadian clipper systems we experienced last winter that led to well below-average snowfall. This is due in part to "the blob" -- an area of record-warm water in the North Pacific we first alerted you to in October. Warm North Pacific waters lead to a ridge in the jet stream across the western U.S., and a downstream trough across the Great Lakes. This drives the storm track through the Chicago area, and has historically led to some of our coldest, snowiest winters on record.