CHICAGO – When you step outside, you immediately feel that something is not quite normal for the end of October.

Temperatures are not far from 70 degrees at the time of writing and will only increase from here. It even feels a little damp. Today’s highs will easily break the 1999 record of 78 degrees. Low 80s are ahead. The sky will be partly sunny. The wind will also be a big story, with gusts from the south-southwest sometimes exceeding 60 km per hour.

Due to the wind and dry conditions, a Red Flag Warning will be in effect this afternoon and evening due to the potential for fast-spreading and erratic fire behavior. Lows tonight will remain in the mid to upper 60s, meaning the current high minimum temperature record of 65 degrees will also be broken. In fact, this will likely be the warmest low on record this late in the season.

Tomorrow’s record is 85 degrees and will not be broken. However, highs will once again be in the low 80s under partly to mostly cloudy skies. The wind will also blow strongly again.

The focus then shifts to the chance of showers and storms after midnight into early Halloween morning. Some higher resolution forecast models strongly suggest that the line of showers here will be trickling and there will be very little rain. I will stay on top of this trend as the failure mode due to the inconvenient time of day for storms and continued drought cannot be ignored. What is certain is that any showers would be long gone by the time it came time for trick or treating.