Winter Weather Preparedness Week

This week (November 11-17, 2018) is the National Weather Service's Winter Weather Preparedness Week for Illinois. It is meant to increase your awareness of winter weather hazards, as well as provide an opportunity to review your preparedness and safety procedures. It is also important to follow a source you know and can trust... hint hint... The First Warn Weather Team!

Monday's topic is National Weather Service products and winter hazards. Some of the winter weather alerts the National Weather Service issues include: Winter Storm Warnings, Winter Storm Watches and Winter Weather Advisories. Winter Storm Warnings are issued for greater than 6" of snow in 12 hours or greater than 8" of snow in 24 hours. On the other hand, a Winter Weather Advisory is issued when any of the following are met: 3-6" of snow, light sleet accumulations, light ice accumulations and/or reduced visibility from snow/blowing snow.

The National Weather Service also issues winter weather alerts for cold weather. Wind Chill Warnings are issued when wind chills are -30° or colder. Wind Chill Watches are issued when wind chills of -30° or colder are possible. And Wind Chill Advisories are issued when wind chills of -20° or colder are expected.

While we already saw some snow last Friday, another winter weather hazard is freezing rain/sleet. It forms when water droplets fall through a warm layer before falling through a cold layer close to the ground. With freezing rain the cold layer is much smaller than with sleet.





Freezing rain/sleet can create difficult driving conditions. So it is important to brush up on you winter driving skills because they might be rusty.