Chicago weather: Weekend warm-up begins as temperatures climb above freezing

CHICAGO - Bring on the thaw! After a week in the deep freeze, temperatures over the weekend are ready to move above freezing. 

Chicago weather forecast

What we know:

Today will still be on the cold side despite abundant sunshine. Highs will be close to 30° this afternoon. Tonight will be mostly clear and cold with lows in the teens. Then the melt gets underway. 

Future forecast

What's next:

Tomorrow, under mostly sunny skies, high should move into the mid 30s. An even more-robust warm-up begins on Sunday with a mixture of clouds and sun and highs in the low 40s. 

Monday will be even warmer with highs in the mid to upper 40s under partly to mostly cloudy skies. At night there is a chance of rain shown on both the U.S. and European models, so I will have it in my forecast as well.

On Tuesday, the mid 40s are likely under partly to mostly sunny skies. 

On Wednesday, a storm system will move through our area with mainly rain, but there could be a little wet snow mixed in as the system moves away overnight into Thursday morning. That would be the last chance of snow for meteorological winter. That being said, there are some growing indications that early March may feature a couple of opportunities for sticking snow around here, so snow lovers don’t give up just yet.