The holiday week will start overcast for Chicago-area residents before turning sharply colder for a blustery travel day Wednesday and a breezy Thanksgiving Thursday.
Monday morning will break with fog, and the day is expected to close with spotty showers, mostly west of I-55. Scattered rains are forecast to continue Tuesday with 50-degree temperatures, followed by a drop on Wednesday to highs in the upper 30s and lows in the 20s.
Thanksgiving weather in Chicago: The most extreme conditions since 1872
“But the main story is Tuesday night and Wednesday, a strong cold front will be rolling through the area,” said Lee Carlaw, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Chicago. “It’ll kind of shift the winds out of the west and northwest.”
On Wednesday, wind gusts could reach up to 40 miles per hour, he said. Temperatures will remain in the mid- to upper 30s before sunset, making the day not “a particularly pleasant one.”
Windy conditions are forecast to persist into Thursday, with gusts of 25 to 35 mph and even colder temps. Highs will hover in the low to mid-30s during the day and might get as low as 16 degrees, making for a cozy night in. Both days, meteorologists expect conditions to be mildest in and around Chicago and near the lakefront.
The week could still end on a magical holiday note. Though uncertainty is still pretty high, Carlaw said there is some potential for white snow accumulations over the weekend.
