Will it rain today in Chicago?
Should you take an umbrella in Chicago? The forecast below loads live every time you open the page: rain now, when the next shower comes, and how much falls today and tomorrow.
Rain right now
It is raining in Chicago right now: light rain. Today’s total: 2.1 mm over 9 wet hours. Tomorrow looks dry.
As of 2026-10-16 17:35 UTC (NOAA GFS snapshot). Updating live…
Rain every 3 hours, today and tomorrow
Today · Friday 16 October
2.1 mm of rain, 9 wet hours, up to 0.2 mm/h. (the forecast covers part of the day)
Every 3 hours as a table
| Hours | Rain (mm) | mm/h | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04:00–07:00 | 0.2 | 0.1 | dry |
| 07:00–10:00 | 0.5 | 0.2 | light · rain |
| 10:00–13:00 | 0.7 | 0.2 | light · rain |
| 13:00–16:00 | 0.4 | 0.2 | light · rain |
| 16:00–19:00 | 0.2 | 0.1 | dry |
| 19:00–22:00 | 0.1 | 0 | dry |
Tomorrow · Saturday 17 October
Dry: no rain in the forecast.
Every 3 hours as a table
| Hours | Rain (mm) | mm/h | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:00–01:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 01:00–04:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 04:00–07:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 07:00–10:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 10:00–13:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 13:00–16:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 16:00–19:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
| 19:00–22:00 | 0 | 0 | dry |
Times in local time (America/Chicago). Each bar is the rain over 3 hours; striped bars are snow.
Rain map around Chicago
The same NOAA GFS precipitation on the map, moving hour by hour: blue light, darker heavy. Tap for the value.
How much it rains in Chicago, month by month
Chicago gets about 982 mm of rain a year. The wettest month is May (117 mm), the driest January (48 mm); a normal October brings 99 mm.
Average monthly rain and snow (water equivalent) 2001–2025, NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis, public domain), on a ~50 km grid: mountains and coasts can differ locally.
More for Chicago
Weather in Chicago now · Rain totals map · Thunderstorms · Cloud map
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Questions
- Will it rain today in Chicago?
- At 16 October 2026 the forecast said: It is raining in Chicago right now: light rain. Today’s total: 2.1 mm over 9 wet hours. Tomorrow looks dry. The box at the top of the page loads the latest NOAA GFS forecast every time you open it, with the time the next rain starts.
- How much does it rain in Chicago?
- About 982 mm a year on average (2001–2025). May is the wettest month with 117 mm, January the driest with 48 mm.
- What do the rain amounts mean?
- 1 mm is a litre of water per square metre. Under 2.5 mm an hour is light rain (a drizzle to a steady rain), 2.5–7.6 moderate, above 7.6 heavy: you get soaked in minutes and streets can flood.
- How accurate is the forecast?
- It is the global NOAA GFS model on a 0.25° grid every 3 hours: good at telling a rainy day from a dry one, less at placing a single summer thunderstorm. Check the rain map for the showers moving around Chicago.
Rain forecast nearby
Milwaukee · Indianapolis · Detroit · Cincinnati · St. Louis · Columbus
How this page works
The rain is the one the rain layer of the map paints: NOAA GFS forecast (public domain), precipitation rate averaged over 3 hours, read at Chicago and summed per local day. Rain or snow comes from the GFS precipitation type. The monthly normals are NASA POWER. No third-party weather service.