Spring, Winter to Visit Northern Illinois this Week

Updated at 8 a.m. Jan. 29.

Get ready for a taste of spring this week.

This week looks to be a week of weather extremes, as we flirt with spring—and have a chance for thunderstorms—before being plunged back into a deep freeze by week's end.

Tuesday will be the warmest day of the week, with forecast highs near 60 degrees. The National Weather Service is predicting a 70 percent chance of rain on Tuesday and "record-shattering warmth."

On the National Weather Service Chicago's Facebook page, the NWS called the weather "The Mother of All Warm Fronts," noting that by 4:42 a.m., the temperature in Rockford had hit 55 degrees, reaching the all-time high for this date, set in 1914. Chicago reached its record high of 59 degrees by 5:41 a.m.

"Most areas will be nearly 20 degrees warmer this morning at sunrise than it was at sunset Monday evening," the page noted.

"The warm weather will end across the midwest Tuesday night as a potent cold front moves through with one more warm day expected in the east on Wednesday before the cooler air overtakes the region by Thursday," said Brian Edwards, meteorologist for Accuweather.com.

That mid-week cold front will bring temperatures in the low 30s on Wednesday, and then forecast highs in the mid-teens on Thursday and Friday.

There's a forecast high of around 30, with a chance of snow, on Saturday, and sunny skies with a high of 29 on Sunday.