Chicago weather: Colder stretch ahead as snow chances shift toward 'Michiana'

CHICAGO - Before I go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs about snow, computer models are in lock step now showing it missing Chicagoland.

What models do show, at least for now, is a chance for some snow in "Michiana" Thursday night into Friday. But let’s do first things first, the short-term forecast.

Chicago forecast turns colder

The details:

Today will be sunny and even milder than yesterday with highs in the low to mid 60s. It might be a tad cooler right along the lakeshore.

Tonight will become partly cloudy with lows in the lower 40s.

On Veterans Day, it looks mostly cloudy with a compact storm system sliding through. That will produce some showers. At this point, I’m expecting a few hundredths of an inch of rainfall in any given location, with perhaps a bias for the higher amounts over our southern viewing area. High temperatures on Wednesday will be in the mid 50s.

Snow incoming:

Then we get a shot of much colder air that will come as a little bit of a shock to the system given how mild it has been recently. High temperatures will stay in the 40s, likely for at least three days in a row. The last time we had three days in a row with highs in the 40s or lower was March 16-18. As that colder air passes over the relatively warm waters of the lake, it will generate precipitation down wind. The direction of that wind will dictate where any precipitation goes and all signs point to a northwest wind direction, which means almost exclusively LaPorte and Berrien counties get any precipitation, including snow.

For Chicagoland, precipitation is looking increasingly unlikely during this period but there will be more cloud cover adjacent to the lake, especially in our northwest Indiana counties.

What's next:

The weekend will feature plenty of sunshine and temperatures close to normal for mid November. Looking toward next week a decent warm-up is expected.

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