Blizzard of 2026 shatters snowfall records across the east coast

Historic Snowfall:

A powerful blizzard riding up the eastern seaboard Monday left behind a path of shattered snowfall records. One of the most remarkable totals came from Providence, Rhode Island, where an astounding 35.5" were observed. This obliterated Providence's previous record of 3.8" set back in 1967. 

 

Other areas that wound up with new snowfall records include my hometown of Islip, NY, Boston, MA, Bridgeport, CT, and Central Park! 

In fact, Islip's Airport beat it's previous snowfall record by an incredible 12.9". 

 

Snowfall Reports: 

In the end, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Long Island wound up with the highest totals. 

Warwick, RI - 36.2"

Norton, MA - 31.8"

Babylon, NY - 29.5"  

 

Get this. Spots along the east coast saw more snow in a 48 hour period than Rockford has seen during the 2025-2026 snow season. Rockford's total as of this morning - 24.2".  

 

Winds ramp up across northern Illinois ahead of approaching cold front

Strong Winds Return: 

Northern Illinois managed to see some sunshine on Monday, but it was paired with a bitterly cold wind that kept highs in the upper 20s.

Winds will be warmer and stronger today, with gusts reaching 35 to 40 mph. The strongest winds are will occur through the morning and early afternoon, and this increased flow will help boost our temperatures, resulting in a warmer afternoon.  

Ahead of this evening's cold front, afternoon highs will rise into the upper 30s and low 40s. The cold front may also bring a brief, spotty rain-snow mix, with the highest precipitation chance occurring north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. 

Once the front is to our southeast, skies will clear into the overnight hours. This will leave us dry but breezy with lows falling into the low 20s. 

Pre-Weekend Warmup:

Wednesday will be the coolest day of the next 5 as highs only reach the low 30s. After that, we'll see another temperature rise that will leave us near the 40° mark Thursday, then low 50s Friday. Similar to today's warm up, Friday's features a robust wind ahead of a secondary cold front. 
 

Winds increase Tuesday ahead of brief warm-up

 

As Meteorologist Joey Marino mentioned Monday morning, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin will experience a few temperature swings this week, with the first arriving Tuesday. But the warm-up will also come with a rather gusty southwest wind, making it feel cooler thanks to the lack of sunshine.

Clouds will slowly move in Monday night ahead of a warm front that'll cross the Stateline Tuesday morning. This will turn winds to the southwest,

bringing temperatures close to 40 degrees. But the increase in temperature will also come with an increase in wind, at times gusting 35-40 mph. This is all due to an area of low pressure that'll move north of the region, into the Great Lakes Tuesday night. Southwest winds will increase ahead of a cold front that'll sweep across the Stateline Tuesday evening. Winds will then turn to the northwest behind the front, remaining gusty into Wednesday morning.

The front will bring with it only a small chance for precipitation mid-day before drying out Tuesday evening. A light mix of sprinkles/light rain, graupel (ice pellets) and/or flurries will be possible. But I anticipate very minimal impacts from this for the afternoon.

Temperatures will drop again Tuesday night down into the 20s, rising only into low 30s Wednesday afternoon. With a northwest breeze in the morning wind chills will fall into the single digits.

Big temperature swings ahead for northern Illinois

Weekend Comparison:

"False spring" has unfortunately come to a close as afternoon highs this past weekend ended up MUCH cooler than the previous weekend.  

Highs at the Rockford Airport went from low 50s and low 60s back to January standards. 

 

Ups & Downs: 

Today, still January-like. The day even begins with wind chill values near or below zero. So make sure to pack those layers this morning. 

High pressure close by will give us plenty of sunshine from start to finish. However, we hang on to a rather cold wind out of the northwest. This will once again leave highs in the upper 20s while also leaving wind chills in the teens this afternoon.  

We'll see winds take a turn to the southwest Tuesday ahead of an approaching cold front. Gusts across the region may reach 35 to 40 mph, helping to boost high temperatures near the 40° mark. 

 With the cold front as well will come the chance for a rain/snow mix or a few snow showers. Chances will be highest late in the afternoon into the evening with skies clearing up some Tuesday night. Overnight lows will end up in the upper teens tonight, then possibly again into Wednesday morning. 

Behind Tuesday's frontal passage, winds shift to the north and northwest for Wednesday, limiting highs to the low 30s and then mid 30s for Thursday. The warmest air is scheduled to arrive Friday as winds turn back to the southwest, boosting temperatures into the upper 40s, close to the 50° mark. 

Subzero wind chills possible Monday morning, sunshine by afternoon

 It will be another cold and breezy night with North winds around 10-20 mph through the night. Clouds will thin out a bit after midnight, dropping temperatures into the low/mid teens. Wind chills will drop toward zero for most of the night.

Tomorrow will see winds ease up a bit through the evening as high pressure moves over the area. It will feel much warmer with that lighter wind by the afternoon and more sunshine, but high temperatures will remain in the 20s for the third straight day. Wind chills will still make it feel like the teens nearly all day.

High pressure keeps us dry through Monday night, but another passing clipper system will bring a narrow window for some snow showers or light wintry mix. This will develop along a cold front early Tuesday afternoon, with the bulk of the precipitation falling across Wisconsin. This also comes with another round of strong winds but from the Southwest this time. High temperatures will reach near 40 degrees on Tuesday.

A more widespread chance for precipitation arrives mid-week with a broader chance for snow locally. There is still a lot of time for this system to change course, but additional snow showers may be possible starting Wednesday night into Thursday.

Chilly start to the week, pattern then switches into the middle of the week

 

With yet another cool and blustery day passing yesterday we unfortunately don't look to change much in terms of our surface conditions today. Temperatures this afternoon will be even cooler than the previous days as we'll be in the mid 20's while wind gusts will reach up to 30 mph. This will keep temperatures feeling quite chilly today as wind chill values will stay in the single digits most of the day.

Not much relief will be expected tomorrow either as high pressure overhead will keep us cool, but thankfully calmer in terms of wind speeds. Heading into the middle of the week though temperatures will begin to rise as a few systems begin to move nearby. This will not only increase our precipitation chances but will also transport slightly "warmer" temperatures into the region.

As the pattern switches into the middle of the week, we'll be monitoring two separate systems. The first on Tuesday will be a low-pressure system tracking mainly to our north, however along the cold front of the system a few snow showers and possible mixed precipitation may occur Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Into terms of the system on Thursday, confidence has risen over the past 24 hours of a stronger system impacting portions of the lower Great Lakes region. As of now, the low-pressure system looks to track to our south which in that case would allow for cooler temperatures locally and higher chances for snowfall.

If this were the case, snowfall accumulation would be likely and looks to be the case as of now. Although we're too far out to forecast total snowfall, the chance for at least accumulating snowfall looks likely with this system as we head into late Wednesday and into Thursday. 

Cold winds stick around into next week

 Unfortunately, the unseasonable warmth from last week is long gone as the afternoon high Saturday afternoon only made it back into the 20s with a cold Westerly breeze. Stronger winds will be possible Sunday as a strong arctic high pressure develops across the Northern Plains. We will be sandwiched between that high pressure and an equally strong low pressure developing off the East Coast.

That difference in pressure, or pressure gradient, will funnel Northwesterly winds our direction Sunday with gusts approaching 25-35 mph at times. Monday will see winds ease up a bit to 15-25 mph gusts from the North with higher pressure moving overhead. Tuesday flips the wind direction around to the Southwest with a passing weather system.

Northerly winds Sunday and Monday will again keep temperatures suppressed in the 20s. A Southwest Wind brings near 40° highs back for Tuesday and Wednesday before another drop mid-week.

A few passing flurries may try to fly from time-to-time Saturday night into Sunday morning, but higher chances for precipitation arrive Tuesday with a passing clipper system. That will develop a chance for rain and snow showers along the passing cold front that afternoon. Another chance for snow may arrive Wednesday night into Thursday with another low pressure system, but there are still many potential scenarios that could play out with this system.