Winter Weather Advisory

2:30pm Update: Just finished conference call with the NWS - Advisory for the Rockford area will likely be upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning.  The reasoning will be the impact the snow will have Tuesday into Tuesday evening; the long duration of the event along with the blowing and drifting that is likely to take place Tuesday evening.  Everything still looks on track forecast wise with 6"- 10" likely.  Trying to pinpoint an exact snow/water ratio will be difficult with this system because the thermal profile of the atmosphere will likely be changing throughout the event as the upper low rotates through the Great Lakes.  With warmer air wrapping into the system we could get an enhanced area of snow which would likely get us closer to the 10" mark  Be sure to keep checking back for the latest information.  Paul will have your complete forecast tonight starting at 5pm.

2pm Update: Getting ready to conduct a conference call with the National Weather Service.

Noon update:  Looking at the latest computer runs this morning we're still in fairly good agreement with the snow.  Backing off a tiny bit on precipitation amounts but I think a running 6" will be likely for the Stateline with some higher amounts possible.  Light snow will probably be here around dinner time (5-6pm) with moderate snow falling during the overnight and into Tuesday afternoon.  Snow will last throughout the day Tuesday before coming to an end Wednesday morning.  Tuesday morning may be a rough commute as well as Tuesday evening with the blowing and drifting expected to take place with gusty north winds.


All WTVO viewing counties in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin are under a Winter Weather Advisory beginning this evening and lasting through Wednesday morning.  Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for counties closer to Lake Michigan.  Light snow that moved through early this morning has now pushed off to the east leaving mostly to partly cloudy skies in its wake.  Snow will begin late this afternoon and evening as two areas of low pressure, one currently in northern Iowa and the other moving into Oklahoma, combine this evening, track through southern Illinois and then into the Ohio River Valley.  As it passes to the south the low is expected to deepen overnight and into Tuesday bringing the bulk of the snow to Stateline during that time frame.  Snow is then expected to last throughout the day Tuesday before moving off to the east Wednesday morning.  Snow accumulations will add up because of the fluffy nature of the snow as well as the long duration of the event.  Computer models from last evening are still wanting to put out close to a half an inch of precipiation over the next couple of days.  That would yield us right around the 6" mark.  There may be some embedded higher amounts as the bulk of the snow falls into Tuesday.  Once the low passes to the east, winds will begin to pick up from the north creating the next concern of blowing and drifting.  Temperatures as a result will stay below average through the remainder of the week.  Morning computer model runs should be coming out shortly so we'll continue to keep you updated as we get new data in this morning.