Chicago weather: Astronomical spring arrives with snow

CHICAGO - At 4:01 this morning, the sun was directly overhead at the equator, marking the vernal equinox, the start of astronomical spring.

Despite this, there is still winter in our forecast. That starts this morning with sticking snow driven by strong winds that at times may gust more than 40 mph.

Chicago weather forecast

What we know:

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect until 7 a.m. for roughly the southern half the Chicago area. This includes the city of Chicago. Likely 1 to 3 inches of snow will fall in a short period of time leading to some travel impacts early this morning. 

Later today, skies will clear but temperatures will barely reach 40°. Tonight will be mostly clear and cold with lows in the upper 20s to the lower 30s. 

Future forecast

What's next:

Tomorrow, any residual snow is history with highs climbing into the mid and upper 50s. Daylight hours will be dry under mostly to partly sunny skies. At night, a brief period of light rain is possible. 

Over the weekend, temperatures will be several degrees colder than normal, topping out in the low 40s both days. 

Rain on Sunday will likely change to, you guessed it, snow late Sunday night into early Monday. Highs on Monday will be once again only in the low 40s.