Rains are expected in Chicago late Monday but we dry out again mid-morning on Tuesday. More sun for Thanksgiving Day

Rains are expected in Chicago late Monday but we dry out again mid-morning on Tuesday with clearing skies by the afternoon. More sun for Wed/Thu with temps on the chilly side in the mid to low 40s for the busy travel day on Wednesday and on Thanksgiving Day.

More clouds to finish out the week with a weather system moving in late Friday into Saturday could have some precipitation. At this point the rain/snow line at this point looks to be to the north of Chicagoland—but that could change over the next week—so stay tuned.

WGN Weekly Climate Report: This weekend finishes off a string of days that were much warmer than normal

Only one day so far this month (the first) was well below normal. November is our fastest cooling month– but you wouldn’t know if from the last 7 days. Not only did we have four days in a row in the 60s earlier this week— we also had four days of 100% possible sunshine—the first time that’s happened in November in 22 years. With the sun and warmth– it’s hard to realize that we’re almost an inch and a half behind in rainfall amounts for Chicagoland.

We’ve seen no snowfall so far this month—but we did have some Halloween snow on the ground to start the month. The typical November sees about 2′′ of snowfall. It’s our 5th snowiest month of the year. As a reminder, last year’s snow season was one of our least snowy on record. A normal year’s snowfall is about 38′′ of snow. Last year we had about half that amount.

Lake water temperatures remain along the Chicago shore near 50 degrees and with this year’s November warmth– we’ve yet to see any ice on the Great Lakes.

Lake ice plays an important role in preventing shoreline erosion and the life cycle of many freshwater fish species. The lack of lake ice on the Great Lakes can feed moisture into cold and dry winter air that blows over it. The winds can take that lake moisture and dump it on the other side of the lake in the form of lake effect snowfall—or if it’s warm enough—as lake effect rainfall.