(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Brace yourself for a “pneumonia front” Tuesday evening, weather officials say.
“It’s an illustrative phrase we use to describe a rapid temperature drop from a cold front coming off Lake Michigan,” the National Weather Service’s Brett Borchardt told WBBM Newsradio Monday.
One of those pneumonia fronts appears to be on its way to the Chicago area.
Temperatures will be in the 70s and as high as 80 for much of the day Tuesday, but then temperatures will drop into the 50s over the span of a couple of hours.
This quick transition should happen around 5 p.m. Cold air from Quebec and chilly Lake Michigan water are expected to combine to push temperatures down.
A pneumonia front -- a drop of at least 16 degrees in a quick timespan -- typically happens once each spring, Borchardt said.
On the positive side, temperature levels stabilize at warmer levels after the drop, he added.
Keep a jacket handy.
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