Light Snow Returns Wednesday Night and Thursday

The sun Sunday and Monday was a welcomed sight and warmed temperatures into the 40s and 50s across much of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Cloud cover, however, has returned and will stick around through much of the week as the overall pattern across much of the country becomes a bit more active. For the rest of Tuesday evening and night, skies will remain mostly cloudy with temperatures falling into the low 20s. Despite a few light radar returns showing up overhead Tuesday evening, skies

remain mostly dry. That's because blocking high pressure to the north and northeast has kept the air mass very dry across much of the Great Lakes with dew point temperatures in the low to mid teens. Any accumulating snow and rainfall Tuesday night will remain south of the Stateline through much of Wednesday.

By Wednesday evening high pressure will gradually begin to lose its grip across the Midwest, but just how quickly that occurs is still

in question. As low pressure lifts northeast from the Rockies Wednesday and Wednesday night, light snow will begin lifting north through southern and central Illinois. As it encounters the drier air, however, most of the snow will evaporate. It'll likely take some time before we begin to see the dry air erode away and this should leave our skies mostly dry through much of Wednesday evening. It won't be until late Wednesday evening, or even Thursday morning, that we will begin to see some of the light snow reach the ground.

How quickly the snow develops will also determine how much snow accumulates across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Right now, looks like maybe an inch or two. Higher snowfall totals will fall further south where Winter Weather Advisories have been issued. Those advisories, as well as Winter Storm Warnings, extend all the way back to the southwest through the central and southern Plains. Light snow showers will continue through Thursday afternoon before coming to an end Thursday night.