Even though we are 36 - 48 hours out from our snowfall we are starting to get a better idea of just what will happen Friday night into Saturday. While there are still certain timing issues that need to be hammered out, we are beginning to see a general trend of the clipper system moving out of the Northern Plains Friday afternoon and into Central/Southern Illinois by Saturday afternoon. As of right now, current indications are suggesting a band of heaviest snow to fall across parts of Northwest Illinois, Southwest Wisconsin and into Northeast Iowa. The potential is there for some localized areas to pick up on 6" or more of snow. There are, however, a few things we are going to be paying attention to very closely as we head into tonight and tomorrow morning. One is the track of the low pressure system. A shift further north or south would mean a difference in just where the heaviest band sets up. Second is the speed of the system. If it slows down Friday night that would potentially mean a longer period of a steady snow, creating higher snowfall totals. If the system speeds up we might not see as much. Also the snow to liquid ratio will help us pin point totals. While this forecast will likely change between now and tomorrow morning, I'm going to go ahead and put the heaviest band of snow stretching from around Freeport - northwest to Galena where anywhere between 4"-8" of snow could be likely. Points east could pick up on 3"-6". As mentioned before this will likely change now that the low is beginning to pull onshore in the northwest and with our latest computer model runs, we'll be able to track this system a little better.
5:00am: Winter Storm Watch will go into effect Friday afternoon through Saturday for Southern Wisconsin and Northwest Illinois. Anyone will travel plans should monitor the weather conditions as we could very well pick up several inches of snow by Saturday afternoon.
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