Happy Monday! Well, if you didn’t think this early, hellacious visit from Old Man Winter wasn’t bad enough, it’s about to get a whole lot messier this week. How fun!! 😤

Today will be mostly cloudy and chilly, with highs only in the mid to upper 20s. 

ANOTHER storm system is approaching from our west, but this one is slightly different than this weekend’s surprise snowstorm. Tomorrow’s storm will be riding along a hump in the jet stream. Remember how the polar vortex was disrupted at the end of November and that’s what has caused all of this? Well that also created a highly amplified jet stream and what comes up must go down (and vice versa), so as the pool of cold air moves eastward, it will be (BRIEFLY) replaced by extremely mild air on Tuesday and Wednesday. So mild, in fact… that this incoming storm system will dump RAIN on top of Chicago instead of snow.

That’s right - moderate rainfall is expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday. Some of it may mix with sleet but either way, with temps around 40 and moderate rain falling on 10 inches of snow, the whole scene promises to be a FREAKING MESS :) 

Unfortunately, once that storm clears to our east, the cold pool of air returns and this upcoming weekend could be the coldest YET 🙃

I’m going to leave you with some good news (YOU’RE WELCOME): All of the models are suggesting that this specific polar vortex episode looks like it will wind down beginning some time late next week and the pattern flip might give us whiplash, with the long range models forecasting highs in the 40s beginning after the 17th LOL.

Tl;dr - cool, cloudy today, high 25F. Warmer tomorrow, Weds, High near 40F, and RAIN: Tues night - Weds.

Every Weather Text since Jan 10, 2024 is archived at this link