Snow this weekend? A big maybe to start new year

The Chicago area heads into the new year with a chance of snow this weekend - after concluding December with the least amount of snow since 1912, meteorologists say.

"It looks quiet for the first couple of days through the new year," said meteorologist Matt Friedlein with the National Weather Service. "Temperatures will warm from the last couple of days with highs in the upper 20s in the afternoon Thursday and Friday."

Thursday should be breezy and sunny before the winds calm down Friday and patchy clouds move in, he said.

Then this weekend could bring some ice and freezing rain or accumulating snow on Saturday with a chance for snow Sunday morning as well, he said.

"It's a little too early three-plus days out to know the details," he said. "It's something that we'll watch. It doesn't look like a major event. We could possibly have some ice or accumulating snow."

It's a new year and new stark comparisons after coming off the area's third-largest amount of snowfall last winter. Eighty-two inches fell between November and April last year.

To-date, just 2.9 inches have fallen since Halloween - with just a trace falling during December.