All of northern Illinois placed under a Winter Storm Warning

ALERTS: The National Weather Service expanded the WINTER STORM WARNING overnight to now include the remaining Stateline counties. 

For Winnebago, Boone, Ogle, Lee, McHenry, and DeKalb Counties, this will begin tonight at 3AM and last until 6AM Sunday. The same goes for our three counties up in southern Wisconsin.  

TIMELINE: For those Black Friday shopping or are traveling home from the Thanksgiving holiday, you won't have to worry about snow. Today remains dry as high pressure quickly tracks over the region. This will leave us partly cloudy and breezy with afternoon highs peaking around the 30° mark. 

 

   

It's shortly after the midnight hour where forecast models show snow chances arriving. The expectation is for snowfall rates to gradually increase as the day progresses, possibly approaching 1" per hour during the afternoon and evening. This would be the portion of the event where it would probably be best to stay off the roads as traveling will be difficult.

   

HOW MUCH?:

Snow remains steady through Saturday night but will slowly begin to wind down Sunday morning. In terms of snowfall totals, 4" is a lock. I think much of the region will see 6"-10" which is well into winter storm warning criteria. Much of which will accumulate between midday and evening on Saturday.

  

WHAT FOLLOWS?: 

It's then the top weather headline will switch from heavy snow to the next round of bitter cold. Fresh snow has a big impact on temperatures as it prevents the ground from taking in the incoming solar radiation. So, highs will only peak in the upper 20s Sunday with overnight lows dipping into the single-digits. Monday will be even colder with afternoon highs in the teens. Buckle up!