Daywatch: A La Niña winter is expected. Here’s what it means for Chicagoland.

Good morning, Chicago.

When Chicagoans woke up to a sunny start to the week with a high temperature forecasted above 80 degrees — or as one meteorologist said, “definitely on the unseasonably warm side” — some might have hoped it’s a harbinger of a mild winter.

But scientists warn that may not be the case.

Measurements indicate that a slowly developing La Niña will affect winter conditions in most of the country. There’s a 60% chance of it emerging somewhere between September to November, with the expectation that it will continue through March, according to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.

For Chicago and the rest of Illinois, this may mean a colder and wetter winter.

“There’s a lot of variability between La Niña years,” cautioned Trent Ford, the Illinois state climatologist. “Depending on what other (weather patterns) are operating and what tends to play a larger role during the winter, we could still see a lot of different variations on what La Niña actually brings.”

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rebecca Johnson.

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