Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chilly; sunshine to return Friday

Expect the pesky cloud cover to linger Thursday night. Winds will be light out of the northeast, with temperatures bottoming out around 35 degrees.

Friday marks the welcomed return of sunshine, especially during the afternoon as the center of high pressure moves across the Chicagoland area.

High temperatures should finally reach 50 degrees officially following a multiday stretch of days in the chilly 40s.

Lake breezes will continue to temper any warming for areas close to Lake Michigan. Expect highs there to only reach the lower to middle 40s.  

Saturday highs surge even warmer for most areas, reaching the lower 60s during the afternoon. Again, an afternoon lake breeze promises to bring significant cooling for areas along Lake Michigan.

Early season heat is taking shape across the Southwestern U.S. with Phoenix and Palm Springs reaching triple digits.

A quieter pattern develops overall across the United States. Predicted rainfall across the Chicago area and Great Lakes looks fairly limited over the next week, with any rainfall on the light side and not amounting to much. The heaviest totals are likely to occur across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. 

A continued progressive pattern is favoring western ridging which will lead to  above normal temperatures for those areas. Significant troughing over the Great Lakes and Northeast will keep temperatures seasonably cool for now.  

Temperatures: Next 7 days through April 16: Average temperature anomaly suggests the sub-normal trend will continue despite a brief uptick in temperatures Sunday and Monday   

Temperatures: April 17 through 23: Indications that above-normal temperatures may finally become more prevalent as we enter the final 10 days of the month  

High temperatures finally break above normal on Saturday and should continue into early next week before another downturn takes place.  

La Niña is over, NOAA announces

That’s a wrap! NOAA reports that La Niña is over and we’re now in the ENSO neutral phase.

The event peaked on Feb. 2, when the 30-day Relative Oceanic Niño Index, which accounts for the current state of the tropical oceans, reached -1.31˚C.

The traditional index bottomed out at -0.79˚C.