What influence does lake michigan have on Chicago's weather?

In short, Lake Michigan has a moderating effect on temperatures here. Though it can also occasionally be the cause of precipitation.

It takes water longer to change temperature than air. So weeks into the winter, the warmer (and naturally more moist) lake can interact with the cold and dry air above the nearby land. When the wind is out of some easterly direction the result is lake effect snow.

In the summer the lake can cool the city a bit. A lot depends on how much the lake has been warmed up as well as wind speed and direction.

This has been a colder than usual April here partly because of an unusual number of days on which we have had easterly winds. Right now the water temperature along the shore is 42° F. By coincidence, that is currently also the official temperature at O'Hare. In the middle of the lake the water temperature is just 33° F. But the winds have shifted and we will be warming up as the week goes on.

In Winter the temps dowmtown tend to be a little warmer than in the suburbs. The opposite is true in Summer..."Cooler by the lake," is a familiar weatherman's phrase.

Lake effect is when the winds blow from the N, E & NE. The air passes over the lake unblocked. It picks up both speed and moisture making Winter storms from those directions fierce, sometimes with blizzard conditions.

Lake effect in the Summer is a relief from usual wind patterns and the normal heat that accumulates and flows over the land to the NW, W, SW & S.

Most of IL is south of Chicago so temps will be a little warmer, depending on the current weather systems passing overhead.

Chicago Lakefront Temperature

Chicago Lakefront Weather

Wait no longer and givve Tichur the 10 points...That is exaclty what the big Lake does for us and in that order...It is the BIG air conditioner in the summer and a slight moderation of temps in the winter.It's effects on the climate around here are much more noticeable during teh spring-summer-Fall months in CHcago and of course in the winter along Lake County in Indiana where they are always getting snow measured in the feet when we get nothing...That is the lake effect snow machine...

Its colder by the lake front because its like its all that water but its colder on the low end( 47st and down).

I stay close to the lake and in many situations trip to the south-suburbs. sure, the nearer to the lake you are the "cooler" that's, this would selection, in the present day it became approximately 10 ranges warmer interior the burbs than close to the lake.

Really interesting question, looking forward to going through the answers