Possible Snow Storm Friday

There are no winter storm watches yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the National Weather Service issue one within the next 12 to 18 hours for the Stateline area. We're anticipating an area of low pressure to move out of the central Plains on Friday and through southern Illinois late Friday afternoon into Friday night. On this track, we'll have warmer air aloft riding up and over the Arctic air that we'll have at the surface. This rising motion -- along with ample moisture -- is likely to produce a significant snowfall in or very near the Stateline area.

The graphic above shows 12-hour liquid equivalent totals (forecast) across the US and southern Canada. That orange bulls eye in Iowa indicates up to 0.75" of liquid-equivalent precipitation falling late Friday afternoon and Friday evening. That would "fluff-up" to well over a foot of snow for that area! Here in the Stateline, I'm thinking we'll see somewhat lesser amounts of liquid-equivalent. Also, the exact track and strength of this low is still questionable since it's still not made it onshore from the Pacific Ocean. Nonetheless, a snowstorm with more than 6" of accumulation is looking more likely for us late Friday into Friday night. Stay tuned!