Map out a path to the park: It’s finally happening.
After an admittedly mild, but still-Chicago winter, the city is set for warm temperatures more akin to sunburn than snowfall, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures are expected to rise near 80 degrees by the end of next week. But first, as many Chicagoans celebrate Easter and Passover this weekend, “beautiful spring-like weather” will put temperatures in the mid-60s, the weather service said.
“Except for right along the lake,” National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Kluber said, noting that temperatures this weekend could be in the upper 50s there.
Dry weather is expected throughout the weekend and even through next weekend, with an unlikely chance of rain Monday night, Kluber said.
Temperatures are expected to rise “2 or 3 degrees” each day over the next week, he said. The gradual rise puts Chicago on course for “early summerlike warmth,” the service said.
Temperatures could reach the low 70s Monday and possibly cross into the 80s by Thursday.
“So we’re looking at temperatures running about 20 degrees above normal for this time of year,” Kluber said.
The nights are expected to be unseasonably warm too, with night temperatures midway through next week forecast in the mid-50s.
The heat should come with clear skies and sun, too.
“For the most part here, a lot of sunshine over the next week,” Kluber said.
The unseasonable warmth comes after a mild winter, he said. Temperatures were 3.7 degrees above normal throughout the winter months, Kluber said.
But despite the weather service’s description of the good weather expected for the “foreseeable future,” cold spring weather is still a possibility later in the month and into May.
“We’re still pretty early here into the spring. We can get some pretty drizzly and cold days still,” Kluber said.
The true “really warm” stretch of weather might finally come in mid-May, he added. But the warm week still signals change.
“We’re starting to turn the table here,” Kluber said.
