Weather Forecast and Updates
Current Weather Conditions
A warm and windy Saturday is ahead as people across the city celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but the warm weather won’t stick around for long.
Parts of Chicagoland woke up to some partly cloudy skies after a round of overnight storms and while a warm day is ahead, gusty winds and some shower chances could cause some hiccups to your holiday plans.
While the warm temps offer revelers a chance to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the mild weather is not here to stay. Rain showers arriving overnight could turn to snow showers as temperatures are expected to fall into the 30s by Sunday morning.
Weather Resources
Weather Maps
Interactive Radar
Weather Bug Cameras
7-Day Outlook
Weather Center Newsletter
Previous Weather Conditions
The pleasant weekend conditions come after a round of overnight storms brought heavy rain and strong winds to Chicagoland.
Friday’s unusually warm weather brought some of the warmest temperatures the region has seen so far for the season, but it also brought a round of powerful storms that left behind a trail of damage in the west and northwest suburbs.
The day started off unseasonably warm and conditions stayed comfortable, but windy, throughout the day before severe weather threats ramped up around 11 p.m., sparking several watches and warnings in the area.
The powerful Meteorological Spring storm system first turned winds southerly, pumping in the warmest temperatures of 2025 so far and the highest readings since last October 30 when the high reached 80 degrees.
For the most part, the storms brought damaging winds and some hail, with some areas seeing gusts as strong as 68 mph.
Non-thunderstorm wind gusts reached 40-50 mph at times Friday afternoon, prompting the issuance of a Wind Advisory. The area was also under a Red Flag Warning until midnight due to low relative humidity and strong winds, creating the potential for brush fires to spread quickly.
The system finally exited the area around 3 a.m.
Current Conditions
TODAY: Partly sunny, & windy. Winds: SSW 25-35 mph. Gusts: 55-60 mph. High 64, temps falling in the afternoon
TONIGHT: Increasing clouds & breezy. Chance of overnight rain/snow showers. Winds: WNW 5-15 mph. Low 32.
TOMORROW: Mostly cloudy & colder. Chance of AM snow showers. Winds: NNW 5-15 mph. High near 40.
Looking Ahead
High Wind Advisories are in effect across Chicagoland and last through 5 p.m. Originally High Wind Warnings had been issued, but were downgraded by the NWS around 9:15 a.m. Saturday.
By 8 a.m. Saturday, some areas around Chicagoland, like Joliet and DeKalb, had already seen gusts exceeding 20 mph.
Non-thunderstorm high winds may include damaging gusts topping 50 mph at times Saturday.
Upper-level winds at the 500 mb level (approximately 18,00 feet) show the Chicago area beneath powerful jet stream winds—which parallel powerful ground-level southwest winds.
Stacking of powerful through tens of thousands of feet through the atmosphere permits high winds to “mix down” to the surface creating exceptionally strong gusts.
