Lake effect rain and snow will impact parts of Chicagoland this week

Good Tuesday evening. I'm Chief Meteorologist Emily Walls. We had a gorgeous day today. Temperatures topped out in the mid to, in some cases, upper 60s across most of the Chicagoland area. So a stunning day today. We had quite a bit of sunshine out there, but hopefully you had an opportunity to enjoy it because the next couple of days we have some changes that we need to talk about. We have a low pressure system that's going to move in tomorrow. And not only is that going to be bringing in some rain chances for us beginning on Wednesday, but it's also going to drag in some colder air. So let's take a look at this map here. All I want you to focus on is the shading of blue. So that's representing the colder air mass that's going to begin to roll in. So Wednesday, by the evening hours, we're starting to see some of this colder air pouring into the region. But then it really takes hold by the end of this work week and then going into this upcoming weekend. By Friday, we're talking low temperatures that are going to be right around freezing and high temperatures that are only going to be in the low 40s. So it's getting very chilly by the end of this week. Below average temperatures are actually expected. So future cast taking us into tomorrow morning. Notice by 7 a.m. there's a chance that we could be seeing some light rain showers around the area. Most of us I think are still dry at this point but scattered rain showers will continue to kind of generate around this low as it pushes on through. So scattered showers are expected tomorrow otherwise mostly cloudy skies. And then going into Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. We're developing a northerly wind flow and as that colder air pours in and it's moving over the relatively warmer waters of Lake Michigan, that's a perfect recipe to see some lake effect developing. So first and foremost we will have lake effect rain showers, but as colder air continues to kind of take hold of the region, Thursday evening, Thursday night, and then right on into our day on Friday, some lake effect snow could be mixing in at times. So for those of you in eastern Porter and LaPorte County, Just don't be surprised if you end up seeing some wet snowflakes mixing in. Little to no accumulation is expected. If we do see accumulation, I think it's going to be on our elevated surfaces because our ground temperatures are still quite a ways above the freezing mark. Seven-day forecast for you. To tomorrow, we're looking at a high of 55 degrees. We'll have scattered rain showers. And then on Thursday, we're going to be right around 46 degrees with a high of 43. Rain and snow possible in northwest Indiana on Friday. Otherwise, most other areas, especially across northeastern Illinois, looking at some sunshine again. And then sunshine is going to return for just about all of us going into the upcoming weekend. Very small chance for an isolated lake effect shower still going on Saturday morning. But I think after that, we're going to completely dry things out. And then early next week, we are going back up to near 50 degrees.