Thursday Evening-Friday Morning Snow Update

 

5:00 am update:

Heavy snow bands set up between I-88 and northern Illinois this morning, creating very heavy snow rates. Under one of these bands near Rockford, snow rates reached an inch per hour. Heavy snow will wind down through sunrise this morning






STORM REPORTS:
(8:35:09 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS LOT: Rochelle [Ogle Co, IL] public reports SNOW of E1.5 INCH at 08:34 PM CST -- still snowing.






(8:40:40 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS LOT: Woodstock [Mchenry Co, IL] co-op observer reports SNOW of M0.8 INCH at 08:38 PM CST -- still snowing.






(9:04:23 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS DVN: 1 WNW Morrison [Whiteside Co, IL] trained spotter reports SNOW of M1.5 INCH at 09:03 PM CST --



(9:12:22 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS DVN: 2 WNW Freeport [Stephenson Co, IL] trained spotter reports SNOW of M1.4 INCH at 09:11 PM CST --

(9:12:22 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS DVN: Stockton [Jo Daviess Co, IL] co-op observer reports SNOW of M1.5 INCH at 09:11 PM CST --




(10:19:00 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS LOT: Rochelle [Ogle Co, IL] public reports SNOW of E2.7 INCH at 10:00 PM CST --


(11:58:59 PM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS LOT: Rockford Airport [Winnebago Co, IL] official nws obs reports SNOW of M2.2 INCH at 11:57 PM CST -- storm total 2.2 inches.


(12:23:46 AM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS DVN: 1 E Freeport [Stephenson Co, IL] trained spotter reports SNOW of M4.0 INCH at 12:20 AM CST -- moderate snow falling.




(1:18:02 AM) nwsbot: Local Storm Report by NWS MKX: Monroe [Green Co, WI] dept of highways reports SNOW of M3.0 INCH at 01:15 AM CST -- 3.0" snow measured at city of monroe dpw.




1:00am Update:

Light snow continues to fall early Friday morning with snow totals so far ranging anywhere between 2" to 4".  There are a few heavier snow bands that have developed south of Rockford near New Milford, along Highway 20 from Stockton to Elizabeth and from Polo to Mt. Morris in Ogle County.


Visibility in those locations have fallen under one mile.


















11:55pm Update:

Visibility has improved some southwest of Rockford over Carroll and Whiteside counties as the snow has lightened up in those areas late Thursday evening.  A band of heavy snow developed over central and eastern Iowa but has now pushed further north into Wisconsin, while another band of heavy snow is now moving into central Iowa. 


Snowfall over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin will remain light for the next several hours until what's moving through Iowa shifts east.  This looks to occur possibly between 2am and 5am Friday morning.


Looking at some of the latest information with respect to the snow and it may be a little difficult to get snow totals in the double digits by Friday morning, especially with the first heavy snow band setting up a little further to the north Thursday evening.  Initially it looked like the heaviest snow would fall a little further to the south, but appears now that the heaviest axis of snow may occur along Highway 20 and points north.  Snow totals during the overnight will most likely range from 4" to 7" (higher totals within the higher snow band axis), with an additional inch or two on Friday.









9:05am Update:
Current road conditions over northern Illinois:

8:15pm Update:

Watching a heavy band of snow developing over central Iowa, west of Cedar Rapids Thursday evening.  As this band of snow shifts east this evening and overnight the placement of it in northern Illinois, and perhaps over southern Wisconsin, will determine where the heaviest snow will occur during the overnight.  Right now it appears to be a little further north than what models had been previously forecasting.  If that trend continues, higher snow totals may occur north of I-88 by Friday morning.








Previous Update:

A Winter Storm Warning remains in place for northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin Thursday evening.  Light to moderate snow was quick to develop from west to east Thursday evening, picking up a little more in intensity in some locations and dropping visibility under two miles for many.

The snow has already accumulated on the roads causing them to quickly become snow covered and slushy.  The Illinois Department of Transportation is reporting many roads over northwest Illinois nearly one hundred percent snow covered (dark pink shading).


Road conditions will continue to deteriorate through the remainder of the evening and into the overnight as the heaviest snow occurs after Midnight.

The axis of heaviest snow may occur right along I-88 with snow totals reaching over ten inches in some spots.  Area wide, snow totals ranging from six to nine inches will be likely - with most of that occurring through Friday morning.  Snowfall rates under the heavy snow bands could reach one to two inches per hour, causing visibility to quickly drop under half a mile and travel to become very difficult. 


The snowfall will gradually come to an end from northwest to southeast during the day on Friday.  With another system moving up from the southwest it's likely that another round of light snow will occur, especially south of Rockford, late Friday and into Saturday afternoon.  This may bring another inch or two to places like Rochelle and DeKalb.