Widespread Dense Fog Early, Mostly Cloudy Afternoon

Waking up on this Monday morning, we're being greeted to a fresh blanket of snow, and also a widespread dense fog. Trust me, I'm not too happy about the snow either. Especially since we had the first day of spring a few days ago. But once the snow moved east of the viewing area earlier this morning, the focus then switched to the dense fog. Due to how dense the fog has become, the National Weather Service has placed a Dense Fog Advisory for the counties highlighted in grey. This advisory will stay in affect up until 10 this morning, as visibility will be reduced to under a mile at times.

Freezing fog is also a possibility this morning as temperatures have dropped into the mid-upper 20s. If you haven't heard of freezing fog, it can pose the same if not just as many hazards as snow and ice. The tiny, supercooled water droplets that fog is made of can freeze instantly on exposed surfaces when surface temps are at or below freezing. This could result in a few slick spots on the roadways. If you are one who has to be traveling this morning, please make sure to be alert, drive slowly, and have those low-beam headlights on while traveling through the fog. 

As for the afternoon, a broad area of high pressure continues to build across the Midwest this morning. This high pressure system will move over the area allowing for cloudy, but dry conditions for the rest of our Monday. Highs will end up seasonably cool in the mid 40s, when normally our highs are climbing into the low 50s at this point in March. 

Despite the dry start to our week, we are keeping an eye on a few rain chances through the next 7 days. The first comes with a system that will likely track to the south of the Stateline by Tuesday evening. Cloud cover will begin to increase late Tuesday morning into the afternoon leading to a mostly cloudy sky. 

For the most part, models this morning focused the precipitation south of 1-88 and throughout central Illinois. This left the Stateline dry from any rain going into Tuesday night. The main component we need to monitor is how far north moisture can travel. If it so happens that moisture can make it into northern Illinois, this could lead to a couple of showers for our southern areas, throughout southern Dekalb county, Lee county, and Whiteside county. Aside from that, clouds will be pretty quick to clear out into Wednesday morning as the system ejects into the Tennessee Valley. Another chance for scattered showers arrives late Thursday into Thursday night, but it so happens that the best chance for rain here at home will hold off until the weekend.