Winter Weather Update

A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for Green, Rock and Walworth counties through this evening for the light snow that is currently falling in southern Wisconsin.

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for all northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin counties beginning late Wednesday evening and lasting through Thursday afternoon.

As the morning model runs continue to come in we're beginning to gain a better idea of where exactly low pressure will move Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon.  While there are subtle differences between runs and the models themselves they are starting to converge on a general track taking the low from north-central Oklahoma to northern Missouri by midnight Wednesday to northern Illinois by Thursday morning and into Indiana by Thursday afternoon.  With this current track it still appears as if the heaviest of the snow will occur just to the north and west of Rockford with places like Mt. Carroll, Stockton, Elizabeth, Freeport, Monroe and Madison receiving some of the higher totals.  Locations east and southeast of Rockford look to receive slightly less due to warmer air at the onset of the storm.

Here's what we know so far and what you need to know now:

Light snow will continue to fall north of the state line through this afternoon with quiet weather expected through tonight and the first half of Wednesday.  Temperatures are expected to rise above freezing during the afternoon Wednesday so any precipitation that does fall should fall as rain before mixing with light snow by Wednesday night in north-central Illinois. All snow or a quicker transition to snow will likely occur from southern Wisconsin, far northwest Illinois and Iowa where the cold air will be in place the longest.  As the low moves into Illinois it is still expected to strengthen which would increase the north wind from Wisconsin through Illinois by Thursday afternoon.  We do know a transition to snow will occur mid-morning Thursday with snow continuing through the afternoon.  The quicker the transition the higher the snow fall totals and the slower the transition the lower the snow fall totals.  One important thing to note is that even if we receive a few inches of snow fall the strong winds will cause blizzard like conditions through Thursday evening.   Travel will be impacted from mid-morning Thursday to Thursday night with some improvement in conditions by Friday morning.  As we get closer to the event we'll continue with updates and be able to better pinpoint who will receive what and how much snow will actually fall.  It's important to us to make sure we have the most up-to-date information to provide you with a better forecast!  Evening Meteorologist Brandon Arnold will have another update and storm break down for you on the news at 5pm, 6pm, 9pm and 10pm.