Big shot of colder air brings scattered snow showers, but the blast of cold won’t last as temps back to the 40s mid-week and close to 50 degrees by Christmas Eve
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Monday’s snow showers are expected to produce little to no accumulation in the Chicago area, but there is some potential for a burst or two of heavier snow showers or squalls. So, what is a snow squall?
Snow squalls are often associated with strong cold fronts, like the one we’re seeing to start the week. Squalls are fast-moving and last less than an hour or two but can lead to sudden white-out conditions and rapidly falling temperatures that can produce slick roads. Snow squalls might only produce minor accumulations but can cause localized extreme impacts on travel. Even though squalls typically produce an inch of snow or less, gusty winds, falling temperatures, and reductions in visibility can create extremely dangerous conditions for motorists.
7 DAY OUTLOOK: We’re getting a blast of colder weather—but this round looks to be relatively brief for the season.
Snow showers look likely for the cold front that moves through tomorrow as well. Minor to no accumulation is expected in the city. Parts of NW Indiana could get accumulating blowing snow during the day on Monday. NW winds gusting from 40-50 mph could create low visibility and slippery travel conditions.
This blast of colder weather won’t last all that long for this time of year. We’ll be heading back to the 40s mid-week and close to 50 degrees by the end of the week—so chances of a white Christmas in this year are close to zero for Chicagoland
Despite the downturn in temps Monday-Tuesday, the 6-10 day and 8-14 day outlooks are well above normal for this time of year with long nights and short days. Great Lakes ice is close to nil as well. Along the Chicago shore of Lake Michigan is around 40 degrees today.
WGN Weekly Climate Report: A soaker of a day on Saturday brought our rainfall back to above normal for this time of year
Halfway through the month and we’ve seen about half of those days with precipitation which is about right for mid-month. What’s been unusual with December 2023 is that we’ve seen very really cold days—most every afternoon has been near normal are very much above normal. This is typical of an El Niño year with above normal temps for the winter season. We will get a blast of colder weather for Mon/Tue of this week—with some of our coldest lows likely for Tuesday morning.
Speaking of short days—we’ve already passed our days with the earliest sunsets of the year (around 4:19p). Sunset by the Winter Solstice which happens on Thursday is up to 4:22p and days will continue to get longer for the next 6 months.
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