Monday forecast: Warm late February day in Chicagoland, high temps in mid-50s in some locations

What a difference a week makes.

At the start of last week, Chicagoland was plunging into a stretch of sub-freezing conditions. At the start of this week, we’re going to see high temperatures soar into the 50s.

Monday is certainly off to a spring-like start, with early-morning temps already crossing 40 in some spots, which is around 15 to 20 degrees warmer than it was 24 hours prior.

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High temps Monday are projected to reach the low to mid-50s, with wind gusts out of the west/southwest reaching up to around 30 miles per hour. Locations in southern and western areas will be especially warm, with projected highs in the mid-50s.

It’ll be mostly cloudy Monday, but also mostly dry, with a slight chance for an isolated shower or two in the afternoon. Rain chances increase into Monday night, by around 7 or 8 p.m.

While it may not stay as warm as Monday, early spring-like weather continues all week in Chicagoland, with highs in the 40s and lower 50s.

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Current conditions

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Looking ahead

The extended outlook calls for continued mild temps on Tuesday, with highs near 50 and partly sunny skies. Wednesday looks soggy, with a chance of rain at times and highs in the mid- to low 50s.

It’ll be a bit cooler for Thursday, with highs in the lower 40s and partly sunny skies. Then it’s back into the upper 40s on Friday for the last day of both February and Meteorological Winter, which consists of the full months of December through February.

Things then look to cool off into the weekend, with high temps in the upper 30s, still well above freezing.

It’s the changing jet streams that have sent the arctic air packing this week, allowing mild Pacific air to take up residence across much of the lower 48 states as the weekend came to a close:

Below represents the departure from normal just above the surface. NOTE: The blue and purple colors depict areas of below normal temperatures, while the orange and red colors depict areas of above normal temperatures: