The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer and the Chicago weather is getting colder and windier.
While Tuesday saw temperatures rise into the upper 50s, a cold front that moved through overnight has brought strong breezes, a double-digit temperature drop and wind chills in the teens, NBC 5 Storm Team says.
According to forecast models, Chicago on Wednesday will be blustery, with partly sunny skies and a high temperature of only 31 degrees. However, a wind chill high of only 19 degrees will make it feel much colder.
The National Weather Service recommends securing loose outdoor items like holiday decorations, as strong winds gusting as high as 40 mph are expected.
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The good news is, it won't quite feel -- or look -- like winter through the rest of the week. Thursday, skies are predicted to remain partly sunny, and temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-to-upper 30s. And by Friday, forecast models are predicting a high of 51 degrees.
However, by next week, the weather is expected to shift again.
The next chance for precipitation, NBC 5 Storm Team says, comes early next week, with a chance of rain Monday and a chance of snow Tuesday.
Two days after that, Chicago's earliest sunset of the year will take place.
While the day with the least amount of sunlight won't occur until the winter solstice later this month, the day with the earliest sunset of the year actually occurs two weeks before that, according to astronomers.
This year, that date falls on Dec. 8, when the sun will go down at exactly 4:21 p.m, according to the website Sunrise-Sunset. After that, sunset will slowly begin to occur later, taking eight full days to gain an extra minute.
The winter solstice for 2022 will take place on Dec. 21, just before 4 p.m. That date marks the “shortest day” of the year -- meaning that the region will see its lowest amount of sunlight for the season, clocking in just under nine hours and 11 minutes.
From there, the days will slowly begin to get longer, but we won't get over 10 hours of sunlight again until Jan. 30, according to Sunrise-Sunset.
Even after the solstice, sunrise will continue occurring later in the morning until Jan. 3, when the sun will come up at approximately 7:16 a.m. Later sunsets will help to offset that change, meaning that the city will see incrementally-more sunshine total each day even as sunrise occurs later and later.
