The winds of change were quick to move in Wednesday morning with the arrival of a strong Arctic cold front that brought temperatures down from the 40s very early in the morning, into the low 20s during the afternoon. Wind chills were also quick to fall, staying in the single digits for most. Quite the change from the 50-degree reading Rockford recorded Tuesday afternoon.
The arrival of the cold front also came with a rather strong and blustery northwest wind, at times gusting close to 50 mph during the morning! This, when combined with the snow showers, quickly caused visibility to drop and made the morning commute quite hazardous. Especially in the locations that experienced the heaviest snowfall.
The snow has come to an end with skies clearing from west to east Wednesday evening, but we should start to see a little more cloud cover move back in through the night. This will keep temperatures from dropping substantially, but overnight lows will settle into the low teens. Wind chills Thursday morning will likely approach zero for many, if not falling just a bit below zero in some locations.
High pressure moves in throughout the day Thursday which will give us a partly cloudy sky, but we don't warm much during the afternoon. The warming will actually occur Thursday night as southwest winds develop ahead of our next storm system moving in from the northwest. Temperatures will remain in the 20s Thursday night, rising above freezing Friday afternoon. But before that warm-up will come another round of snow Thursday evening. The snow will move in after dark, likely between 6pm and 8pm, and may only last for a few hours window. However, when the snow comes down it'll most likely stick which could create some slick conditions late Thursday night. Snowfall totals of around half an inch to an inch will be possible by Friday morning.
A little break in the snow can be expected, but additional snow showers will occur throughout the afternoon and evening as a deep trough (dip in the jet stream) develops over the Great Lakes. An even stronger cold front will arrive Friday evening which will push temperatures down into the teens for highs this weekend. Additional snow showers will occur with the front as winds once again increase from the northwest, although they shouldn't be as strong as what they were Wednesday morning.
Between Friday and Saturday, we'll likely see an additional inch or two of snowfall. Blustery winds will carry over into Saturday morning which will push wind chills below zero as afternoon temperatures only warm into the upper teens for highs.
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