Chicago is expected to thaw out this week after hitting subzero temperatures Sunday.
Temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-30s Tuesday and mid-40s by Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Although a cold front is predicted for Thursday night with temperatures back in the low teens and a chance of snow, warmer-than-average weather is expected to return for most of the coming weekend — and could last until New Year’s.
“We’re kind of changing the weather pattern here for the last part of December,” said Kevin Birk, a meteorologist at the weather service. “It looks like we’re actually going to end up above normal for temperatures here through Christmas, and possibly even through New Year’s.”
Chicago has seen record-breaking snowfall and racked up over 17 inches of snow so far this season, which is tracked from July through June. Over the weekend Chicagoans endured bitterly cold temperatures and warming centers were made available across the city. As the Bears kicked off against the Cleveland Browns Sunday — dominating in a 31-3 win— subzero temperatures made it one of the coldest games in the team’s history.
“We love this. This is Bear weather,” second-year quarterback Caleb Williams told his teammates before kickoff in a video posted to the team’s account on the social platform X.
Yet, at least for the near future, Chicago’s “Bear weather” may go into hibernation.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll be in the deep freeze, at least persistently, for the next week or so,” Birk said.
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Temperature roller coasters like the one expected this week with bouts of warm and cold are not uncommon for this time of year.
“After you get into a period of deep cold, when you start to come out of it, you warm up,” Birk said. “Then you jam another system that brings in a little bit of cold for a brief period of time before you start to warm up again.”
Chicago has experienced what the weather service dubbed the “quickest start to winter” since 1978 after the unusually high snowfalls in recent weeks.
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