Temps crash by weekend & snow flurries possible

FIRST—THE TUESDAY WEATHER HEADLINES

–Election Day’s 53-deg official high at O’Hare (it hit 55 at Midway) is about normal—which if 52-deg.

–But the cool spell marks the first set of back-to-back daytime highs which have reached no higher than the 50s in nearly 2 weeks.

–A WHIPLASH TEMP REGIME IS anticipated for the remainder of this week and coming weekend—with temps FIRST surging to a near record 74 Thursday then crashing to a high of just 38 Saturday—a 36-deg drop. But with the near 30-deg wind chill Sat afternoon taken into account, the air Sat afternoon will actually FEEL 45-DEG COLDER than it will feel Saturday

–Another interesting comparison—namely of the average temp last weekend versus this weekend—THE COMING WEEKEND IS TO BE 24-DEG COLDER.

–The cold weekend temps, expected to remain officially in the 30s both Saturday and Sunday, represent the first set of multi-day highs in the 30s in the seven months since last March.

–A few showers are to mark the cold frontal passage which takes us into the weekend deep freeze. They’ll occur late Thursday night and be called into Friday morning—with temps chilly enough in the wake of the frontal passage that a few wet snowflakes could be mixed in early Friday in areas of northern Illinois west of Chicago.

–An “unstable” air mass Saturday—one in which the air aloft is comparatively cold—threatens a fair amount of Saturday cloudiness and evening the chance for some snow flurries.

–The chill continues through next week and the following weekend—even into the following week.  We compute weekly temp averages to look like this: 

• LAST WEEK 55.9-deg (12-deg above normal)
• THIS WEEK 44.7-deg (only 0.8-deg above normal)
• NEXT WEEK 31.3-deg   (9.6-deg BELOW NORMAL)

–This means we calculate this week to average 11.2-deg colder than last and NEXT WEEK to come in around 13.4-deg colder than this week.

HERE’S MY TUESDAY (ELECTION DAY) CHICAGO METRO FORECAST

TONIGHT: Clouds increase, not as chilly. Wind shifts southerly by morning. Low 49—7-deg milder than last night.

WEDNESDAY: A good deal of cloudiness at the open. But becoming partly sunny, a bit breezy and noticeably milder by and during the afternoon. High 68.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and milder. Steady south winds. Low 58.

THURSDAY: Partly sunny, windy and unseasonably warm. Temps approach the record for the date. High 74—a reading 23-deg ABOVE NORMAL.

FRIDAY: Clouds, possibly a shower in spots. Then clearing, windy and much cooler. Gusts to 35 mph develop. High 49.

SATURDAY: The COLDEST WEEKEND TO DATE THIS FALL AND FIRST SET OF DAYS TO NOT GET OUT OF THE 30s i the 7 months since last March. A good deal of cloudiness—peeks of sun—with blustery west/northwest winds and an early December-level chill. Some passing snow flurries are possible. High 38—12 degrees below normal. (Lake effect rain and/or snow showers across the lake in Michigan).

SUNDAY and MONDAY: Partly cloudy, breezy and cold. High Sunday 37.  Monday’s high 38.

TUESDAY: Cloudy. Chance of some snow or mixed snow and rain. Cold. High 39.