Forecaster Claims Upcoming Winter Will Put Illinois on ‘Blast’

Are you a fan of winter? Your answer will determine how you feel about a new forecaster's outlook for next season which he says will put Illinois on 'blast'.

Direct Weather on YouTube seems to be one of the more respected channels and has nearly a quarter million subscribers so this isn't just a guy in his basement making weather guesses. He just issued his updated winter forecast for late 2024/early 2025 and his view of the upcoming winter is encouraging in some ways. Emphasis on "some".

Let's start with temperatures. For Illinois, it's gonna be a big chill, but that's literally just the tip of the iceberg.

The snowfall outlook for Illinois isn't too awful. Looks like a somewhat normal winter...or does it?

But, it's the overall outlook for winter that gets interesting for Illinois. Look at the phrase emblazoned all over the state.

I'd recommend you listen to his explanation, but the short version is the jet stream is likely to be a repeating pattern of cold air "arctic blasts" that will keep Illinois on chill most of the winter.

As I've said repeatedly as I share these outlooks on the upcoming winter, any forecast this far out is guesswork even if it seems to be educated guesswork like the one Direct Weather just shared.

Time will tell how this winter plays out for Illinois and the rest of our part of the Midwest.