Jeremy Scheuch has come up with yet another design suitable for ironing onto a t-shirt. Do it! more ›

It's officially the third warmest winter Chicago has ever seen, tornadoes continue to tear up the Midwest, and other news. more ›

Classic chocolate chip cookies are a year-round favorite, but here’s a fun way to give them a citrusy, wintery kick: add orange zest and walnuts. more ›

Logan Square Farmer's Market and the Glenwood Sunday Market are both setting up shop inside this weekend. more ›

Although our city refuses to get cold or snowy, you can still bring the season to your kitchen by trying these dishes. Try one (or two, or three!) of our simple fish and citrus recipes. more ›

A new pop-up coffeeshop, only around for six months. We love it, and you will too. more ›

With Blizzaster 2011 somewhat behind us and city neighborhoods digging out around Chicago, the streets are going to be overflowing in chairs, crates, industrial-sized jugs and other junk to save the parking spaces that have been shoveled out by car owners. more ›

Here is a gallery of the blizzard. It's a combination of reader and staff photography. more ›

White Mystery at the Gapers Block Metro Show, Photo Credit: David Schalliol more ›

Moving on in our series on why local notables love about Chicago in winter, Michele speaks with Local H frontman Scott Lucas. more ›

Yeah, it's a slow news day. But it's given us a good opportunity to really dig in (pun intended) to Wikipedia's entry on parking chairs or, as they're more commonly known, "dibs." more ›

The Chicago area received some decent snowfall over the weekend, but not enough to start the dibs argument that has split families and neighbors since time immemorial. When it comes to Chicago arguments, only the pizza debate can lead to more heated exchanges. more ›

Tomorrow is December, which means that the city's overnight parking ban goes into effect this evening. The ban will affect 107 miles of vital arterial streets from 3-7 a.m., through April 1, regardless of snowfall. Here's a handy map for the overnight parking ban (PDF). more ›

Given the current weather, it seems strange to be thinking about snow but a new ruling today puts snow front and center. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled today that it's not the CTA's responsibility to remove ice and snow from train platforms. The problem: the court didn't specify whose responsibility it is. Surely it couldn't be the responsibility of the plaintiff of the case, Marianna Krywin, who was 71 back in January 2005 when she exited a Red Line train at Sheridan and slipped on snow and ice on the platform and fell, injuring her left leg. more ›

It's not just Chicago that's in the grips of a cold winter; the rest of the United States has had a rough winter as well, including the Mid-Atlantic which has seen its fair share of snow so far. And while our intern has been moping about like the rest of us, it seems the First Pooch down in D.C. is having a far better time with all the ice and snow. more ›

It's a lovely early winter's day outside right now. Highs may top out near 40 under sunny skies, but on the other side of sunset is the first potential accumulations of the season for the Chicago area. Snow showers will move in overnight and the area could see as much as two inches, particularly to areas north of the city. But what's really got the weather folks' attention is a mid-week system that could bring several inches and, according to Skilling, blizzard-like conditions. Of course, that's still three days out, so who knows how much the volatile forecast will change? But it seems a taste of arctic air is also on the way for Thursday when highs might not crack 20, so you'd better bundle up for the trek to Sheffield's and our meet-up/canned food drive. You are coming to that, aren't you? more ›

With snow in the forecast as early as tonight, it's never too soon to get your bike in gear for winter riding. Or, if you stopped biking when the temperature dropped below 55, now's your chance to start riding again before it gets really cold. Rapid Transit Cycleshop is offering free winter riding and winter maintenance classes this season--and various other bike maintenance classes for a fee. Classes are located at 1900 W. North Ave. and spots may be reserved by calling the shop at 773-227-2288. more ›

We're not experts on weather, but we can tell you that this past winter was ridonkulously cold (yes, that's the scientific term). Now, the Farmer's Almanac is telling us that our upcoming winter will be dry (yay!) but also "bitterly cold" (boo!). The almanac likes to get all fancy pants and show how it's always spot on, thus already incurring our wrath and it's only early September. We, however, are just going to ignore it. At least until it's too cold to. more ›

Sure, our summer has been cooler than usual and the beach-mongers among us are a bit miffed, but if El Niño impacts us enough to give us a warmer than usual winter, as Skilling Says it might, we can deal. more ›

more ›

more ›

more ›

photo by josephp more ›

Monica Eng vented about the long lines at Garrett Popcorn's Randolph Street location in the Stew today, and also expressed gratitude that they've opened a temporary "Holiday Express" location on Boul Mich (625 N. Michigan) for pre-packaged popcorn only. So those of you wanting to buy Garrett for gifts now know where to go so the rest of us don't have to wait in line waiting for you to decide on a tin. more ›

As if summer coming to a close weren’t enough to stir up our seasonal depression, now we hear the Farmers' Almanac is predicting a nasty winter in our neck of the woods. The almanac, which boasts an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate for weather forecasting, claims that two-thirds of the country will experience lower-than-average temperatures, and the upper Midwest will experience more than its normal share of snowfall. more ›

Our feelings about this recent winter progressed like this: we were initially excited about the cold and snow, were merely tolerating it a few months later, and now we are completely sick of winter and want it to GO AWAY. It’s been a pretty snowy time of it these last few months, and with yesterday’s seasonally invasive snowfall, it has officially become Chicago’s seventh snowiest winter season since we started keeping track of these things in 1884. more ›

Wintry mix ≠ out like a lamb. [NWS] more ›

Wishes don't come true. It's still snowing like a mofo. If you can leave work now, do. The roads are a mess (even though plows and salt trucks are out), and sidewalks are the slushy stuff nightmares and broken teeth are made of. At least it should let up by late tonight, but for reals, bleh. [NWS] more ›

Happy spring! Today marked the spring equinox, which means bust out the picnic baskets and flower pots--it's time to celebrate. Except wait a little while because our area is under a winter storm watch tonight through late tomorrow. Expect heavy, wet snow starting after midnight, with around an inch accumulating over night and 3-5 inches accumulating during the day on Friday. At least it won't be too cold; highs should be in the high-30s the rest of this week and into the 40s on Monday. more ›

more ›