Snow Likely to End the Weekend

A storm system will move through the Stateline for the latter half of Sunday bringing with it the likelihood for measurable snowfall.

A disturbance in the middle levels of our atmosphere known as a shortwave trough will be moving over the area from the west through the day on Sunday. This will quickly pull a good amount of moisture into the Midwest as well as generate spin in the atmosphere, known as vorticity, which will favor the development of precipitation. With temperatures just above the surface forecast to remain well below freezing for the next several days, much of this precipitation is expected to fall as snow.

 As of Saturday evening, the storm system is throwing up rain showers in central Oklahoma. The system is expected to propagate northeasterly, following the direction of mid-level flow. The primary precipitation type associated with this storm will remain rain until shortly before arriving in the Stateline. Our first glimpse of this system will be a wintry mix in the mid-evening hours of Sunday. The precipitation will first fall in the southwestern portion of the area and quickly fill in through the remainder of the afternoon. By the late afternoon hours, all of the precipitation will have turned to entirely snow. Moderate to possibly heavy snow will fall steadily through the remainder of the evening and into the overnight hours. By the middle of the night, most of the snow should be out of the area with the possibility for a few isolated flurries tapering off the back end of the system through the early morning hours of Monday.

 Models are still in disagreement with snowfall totals, ranging from a dusting to nearly 3 inches in the Rockford area. The First Warn Weather Center has most areas receiving around an inch with some areas receiving less and a few isolated spots receiving closer to two inches. However, the snowfall is not expected to stick to most surfaces, particularly on busier road networks. Therefore, with the exception of some visibility issues, this snowfall should not be much of a nuisance while driving. Any snowfall that does manage to stick should melt off quickly with temperatures forecast to reach the upper 40’s and lower 50’s for the first half of the upcoming work week with a few good chances for some rain showers.