Chicago weather: Warming trend continues but rain chances remain uncertain

CHICAGO - Chicago will warm into the 70s by Friday, but rain chances remain uncertain, and models disagree on whether snow could arrive Monday.

Chicago weather forecast

What we know:

Today should feature a mixture of clouds and sun with sunshine becoming a little bit more prominent this afternoon. 

Highs should rise into the low 50s once again with it being a few degrees cooler near the lake. Tonight will be quiet with increasing cloud cover and a small chance for showers well after midnight. 

Tomorrow, if there is any rain, it appears the highest chances will be early in the day and southwest of Chicago. I doubt there will be any impact to the White Sox game in the afternoon. High temperatures will rise into the mid to upper 50s, but it will be cooler near the lake. 

Friday will be significantly warmer and there is computer model agreement on that fact . Highs should easily rise into the mid 70s with the help of a gusty southwest wind. As for rainfall prospects once again, they can’t be ruled out, but it looks like there will be many more dry hours than wet on Friday. I’d focus on the morning hours for a shower or even a thunderstorm. 

On to the weekend. Both days could have showers in the area. Then it turns much colder on Monday with highs only in the low 40s. 

Rain and snow chances

Dig deeper:

Now let’s discuss the two different camps of the longer-range computer models. The US model believes that between tomorrow and Monday 1.5 inches of precipitation will fall over pretty much all of Chicagoland. What’s more, that model advertises an inch or two of snow on Monday morning. 

Meanwhile, the European model says that less than 0.1 of an inch of rain will fall over the majority of Chicagoland through Monday. And it shows zero snowfall in our area on Monday. 

At this point, I believe that there will be scattered showers, but that rainfall amounts are going to be far less than what the US model is showing.