Forecast: Sudden Chill Sweeps In This Afternoon as 'Back Door' Cold Front Hits Lake Michigan
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Wednesday serves as an excellent example of how Lake Michigan influences springtime temperatures across the Chicagoland area.
Dense, cool air over the lake will race southward during the afternoon hours, pushing out warm, less dense air and causing temps to plunge as northeast winds gust up to 30 miles per hour. This is known as a “back door” cold front and is the result of Lake Michigan water that’s still cold.
This means the first half of the day Wednesday, with high temps approaching 80 in far southwestern locations, will be drastically different from the second half.
While temps won’t plunge as quickly inland, the difference will be most stark along the lakefront, as the “back door” cold front moves northeast to southwest. Temps in northern locations closer to the lake will drop down into the mid-50s by late Wednesday afternoon.
The weather forecast for Wednesday doesn’t predict any rainfall in the Chicagoland area, although the sky will remain largely overcast.
After the midweek dip in temps caused by the “back door” cold front, we’re looking at a pleasant Mother’s Day weekend ahead, with temps back in the 70s. Then it looks to get even warmer next week (see more below).
1 p.m. is when you're most likely to get sunburned.
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After a brief spell of cooler weather, temperatures rise again by the weekend and stay high through next week. Most of the Chicago region will experience their initial series of days with highs above 80 degrees for this year.
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Across the Midwest and Great Lakes, dry conditions are anticipated overall; however, the southern U.S. and Gulf Coast will likely experience unstable weather patterns persisting into next week, leading to recurrent thunderstorms nearly every day.
A significant amount of precipitation ranging from 3 to 5 inches or even more could fall over an extensive area stretching from Louisiana to parched Florida, which desperately requires this moisture at present.
9-day temperature forecast
Strong warming is projected by the middle of next week. Upwards of 178 million U.S. residents will see at least 80 degrees, and there may potentially be a few 90s in portions of the Plains.
Forecast full-day temperature anomaly next 7 days
Predicted daily temperature deviation for May 13-19
8 p.m. sunset approaching
May’s warming trend
Typical high temperatures increase from 65 degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning of May to around 76 degrees by the end of the month.
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