Cloudy skies, drizzle ahead of warm-up NBC Chicago [Video]

The Chicago area isn’t waking up to a white Christmas, but rather gloomy conditions and mid-to-upper 30-degree temperatures.

The theme of the week overall is persistent clouds, which are expected to last beyond the holiday and into the weekend, according to forecast models. Christmas Day itself is bound to see plenty of clouds, with light rain and drizzle, especially in areas south of Interstate 80, according to the National Weather Service.

Both drizzle and fog will move north across the area later in the day and continue through the nighttime hours as well as Thursday, when fog could become locally dense. High temperatures, meanwhile, will begin in the upper 30s on Christmas Day before climbing into the 40s and beginning a period of a gradual warm-up.

The rest of the week will bring several chances of rain, but also a number of dry hours. According to the NWS, unseasonably mild …