Accumulating Snow Possible for the Start of the Weekend

Spring may have started on Tuesday but the upcoming weekend will feel, and quite possibly look, anything but spring-like.


An area of low pressure will move out of the Plains late Friday night with a warm front extending up through Missouri and central Illinois.  As the warm front approaches rain showers will likely develop during the day Friday from parts of Iowa to Missouri, possibly extending up through South Dakota.  North of there snow, which could be heavy, will fall from the Dakotas into Minnesota eventually extending down into Iowa, Wisconsin and northern Illinois late Friday night and Saturday.

Temperatures on Friday will warm close to 50 degrees, but cool into the 30's Friday night.  As the low pressure system moves out of the Plains and into Missouri winds will increase from the East Saturday morning over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  This will keep highs on Saturday in the upper 30's and low 40's.


The rain showers Friday night will quickly change over to a heavy and wet snow over Iowa and parts of Illinois before coming to an end Saturday afternoon.  A narrow swath of heavy accumulating snow is possible, but at this point it's hard to pinpoint exactly where.  Right now it looks like the heaviest snow may accumulate from northeast Iowa down into parts of Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, Ogle and Lee counties.  Totals there could add up to over three to four inches, or more.  But a shift in the storm's track would shift where the heaviest snow would fall. 


The snow would be heavy and wet wherever it does fall and would first accumulate on grassy surfaces.  As the snow picks up in intensity, accumulations would begin to occur on the road making travel difficult through Saturday morning.


The storm is still a couple days away and the track could change.  Continue to check back with the First Warn Weather team as we monitor the progress of this storm heading into the weekend.