(Darius Cotoi / Unsplash)

Winter made a brief appearance Monday morning, with the first snowflakes of the season hitting the ground at O'Hare, according to the National Weather Service.

The white stuff was barely noticeable but will go down in the record books nonetheless as the season's first observed "trace" of snow, the agency's meteorologists explained.

The next benchmark will be the first measurable accumulation of 0.1", an amount that was long delayed in Chicago in 2021, arriving on Dec. 28.

The average date for the first significant snowfall of an inch or more is Dec. 7.

The forecast for Monday's wild weather ride also includes 30-35 mph wind gusts and the potential for waves higher than 10 feet battering Lake Michigan's Indiana shoreline.

By the weekend, temperatures are expected to rebound to the upper 60s, possibly even topping 70 degrees.

It's snowing at #Chicago-O'Hare as of 9:21 AM (on 10/17), so this will go down as officially the first snow of the 2022-2023 snow season for Chicago! #ilwx

— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) October 17, 2022