Wednesday’s cold, wind rain & snow: Timeline, what to expect

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A system building out west will reach the Chicago area Wednesday, bringing with it high winds, the possibility of strong-to-severe thunderstorms with hail and a chance of weak, pop-up tornadoes and, later, snow.

Winds will be strong throughout Wednesday and into Thursday, with gusts up to 40 to 45 miles per hour.

Timeline:

Tuesday: Cloud cover increases
Wednesday morning: light showers, chance of non-severe storm until midday
Wednesday evening: Best chance for storm activity appears to be between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning: Light snow

Some locations could get between 0.5 to 2 inches of snow, followed by temps topping out only in the low 40s on Thursday.

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Current conditions

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Looking ahead

Chicagoland looks to go into a cooling trend following a warm start to the week.

After the cold front moves through Wednesday night, the first day of spring on Thursday looks to be cold and windy. Temps will rebound back into the 50s on Friday, but the coming weekend looks chilly, with highs topping out only in the low to mid-40s.