By Meteorologist Tom Skilling
The mild, mid-March-level temperatures with which the work week ended Friday--the mildest weather here in 18 days--included a second day with a 50-degree high at Chicago's lakefront. But the unseasonably mild air has moved on and it to be replaced by moderately colder air this weekend. Saturday highs are predicted to come in 12-degrees chillier than Friday's 49-degree highs at O'Hare and Midway, reaching the upper 30s across the metro area instead.
Last Saturday's 20-degree high was the winter's second coldest; this weekend's temps are to be nowhere near as cold
Though colder than yesterday, Saturday's 38-degree predicted high remains 2-degrees above the normal high of 36 for Feb 18. That reading will exceed by 18-degrees, last Saturday's bone-chilling 20-degree high at O'Hare. The temperature was winter 2011-12's second coldest daytime high and it hit with stinging northwest winds and sub-zero wind chills.
Friday's 49-degrees at O'Hare ranked among the warmest 17 percent of Feb 17 temperatures the past 141 years
Friday's 49-degree high fell far short of the record of 60-degrees for the date recorded in 1880. The reading, which was 13-degrees above normal for the date, fell among the mildest 17 percent of all official February 17 highs in the city dating back to 1871.
Storm prompts flood watches across 5 Gulf states; winter storm watches hoisted for possible heavy late weekend snow from Kentucky into Virginia
While Chicagoans deal with a more seasonable brand of chilly air this weekend, heavy--at times thundery rains--are to douse the Gulf Coast states with as much as 4 inches of rain. Flood watches have been issued across sections of five Gulf Coast states. And the threat of an outbreak of potentially severe weather looms for an area from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama and Tallahassee, Florida.
Thunderstorms towering to 40,000 ft across Texas late Friday night were expected to develop eastward, eventually to Florida and the Southeast coast of the Lower 48, fueled by warm, moist winds sweeping into the developing Gulf states storm.
As colder air floods into the storm's northern flank, a transition to potentially heavy snow is predicted from Kentucky east into Virginia. Accumulations as high as 10-12 inches are predicted in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.
North American weather pattern to shift into a colder mode later next week and into March; the period 11-15 days out is predicted to produce below normal temperatures over a wide area of Lower 48
Model forecasts of temperatures out to two weeks ahead are predicted to grow chillier, particularly in the 11 to 15 time range. Much of North America, which has basked in unseasonable winter "warmth" this year is predicted to sink into sub-normal temperature territory. The downturn is to coincide with February's close and runs into March's opening days.
A powerful jet stream is to develop along the colder air's southern flank and could set up an active storm track across the country which will warrant careful monitoring. We'll keep you posted on developments in that direction in the days and weeks ahead!
The mild, mid-March-level temperatures with which the work week ended Friday--the mildest weather here in 18 days--included a second day with a 50-degree high at Chicago's lakefront. But the unseasonably mild air has moved on and it to be replaced by moderately colder air this weekend. Saturday highs are predicted to come in 12-degrees chillier than Friday's 49-degree highs at O'Hare and Midway, reaching the upper 30s across the metro area instead.
Last Saturday's 20-degree high was the winter's second coldest; this weekend's temps are to be nowhere near as cold
Though colder than yesterday, Saturday's 38-degree predicted high remains 2-degrees above the normal high of 36 for Feb 18. That reading will exceed by 18-degrees, last Saturday's bone-chilling 20-degree high at O'Hare. The temperature was winter 2011-12's second coldest daytime high and it hit with stinging northwest winds and sub-zero wind chills.
Friday's 49-degrees at O'Hare ranked among the warmest 17 percent of Feb 17 temperatures the past 141 years
Friday's 49-degree high fell far short of the record of 60-degrees for the date recorded in 1880. The reading, which was 13-degrees above normal for the date, fell among the mildest 17 percent of all official February 17 highs in the city dating back to 1871.
Storm prompts flood watches across 5 Gulf states; winter storm watches hoisted for possible heavy late weekend snow from Kentucky into Virginia
While Chicagoans deal with a more seasonable brand of chilly air this weekend, heavy--at times thundery rains--are to douse the Gulf Coast states with as much as 4 inches of rain. Flood watches have been issued across sections of five Gulf Coast states. And the threat of an outbreak of potentially severe weather looms for an area from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama and Tallahassee, Florida.
Thunderstorms towering to 40,000 ft across Texas late Friday night were expected to develop eastward, eventually to Florida and the Southeast coast of the Lower 48, fueled by warm, moist winds sweeping into the developing Gulf states storm.
As colder air floods into the storm's northern flank, a transition to potentially heavy snow is predicted from Kentucky east into Virginia. Accumulations as high as 10-12 inches are predicted in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.
North American weather pattern to shift into a colder mode later next week and into March; the period 11-15 days out is predicted to produce below normal temperatures over a wide area of Lower 48
Model forecasts of temperatures out to two weeks ahead are predicted to grow chillier, particularly in the 11 to 15 time range. Much of North America, which has basked in unseasonable winter "warmth" this year is predicted to sink into sub-normal temperature territory. The downturn is to coincide with February's close and runs into March's opening days.
A powerful jet stream is to develop along the colder air's southern flank and could set up an active storm track across the country which will warrant careful monitoring. We'll keep you posted on developments in that direction in the days and weeks ahead!
