When the snow came down Monday afternoon, it came down quickly. Despite temperatures in the mid 30's, the snow was quick to accumulate on the roads and grassy surfaces. Snow totals mostly ranged anywhere from one to two inches, but places like Lanark, Elizabeth and Shannon received totals closer to three inches.
With temperatures in the mid 30's the snow did have a higher moisture content, meaning it does have some weight to it. Careful if you try to shovel this evening.
A compact low pressure system moved southeast from Minnesota into northeast Iowa and northwest Illinois late Monday morning. As this low came closer to the Stateline, the lift in the atmosphere (or rising air) was maximized just north of the surface low - placing areas like Carroll and western Stephenson counties within the zone of greatest atmospheric accent. This combined with a passing front lining up right along Highway 20 allowed the snow to fall as quickly as it did. Originally it looked like this band of heavier snow would set up further north, in Wisconsin. And that prompted a Winter Weather Advisory to be issued for parts of southeast Wisconsin. However, as many of you know southern Wisconsin didn't see much snowfall - outside of what came down early Monday morning.
Another fast moving clipper system will follow almost the same path as Monday's system, possibly bringing another round of accumulating snowfall during the day Wednesday. Again, these systems typically don't have a lot of moisture with them but can often times pack quite a punch (as we saw Monday afternoon).
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