Wind driven snow showers possible late this week

The overall weather pattern the next few days will be quiet and slightly warmer as winds continue to gust from the west and southwest. Despite an upper level disturbance moving across the Midwest Monday evening, temperatures will actually be warming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday thanks to down-sloping winds from the High plains.  

This warming will bring highs into the mid 30s, possibly near 40 degrees Wednesday and Thursday, but only if we can see some decent sunshine. If not, highs will remain in the mid 30s, which is still nearly 10 degrees above average. 

A strong storm system will develop over the Northwest Wednesday, moving through the High Plains and Midwest Thursday and Friday. An increase in moisture ahead of the low Thursday will bring a chance for a few rain showers during the day as temperatures remain above freezing. By mid-day a rather strong cold front will move through Wisconsin and Illinois bringing a drop in temperatures and the chance for a few snow showers to mix in with the rain by Thursday evening. No accumulations are expected Thursday night, but it will be noticeably colder by Friday morning.  

Winds will still remain gusty from the west Friday as a second cold front comes in early in the day. This will cause wind-driven snow showers to develop and persist through much of the afternoon and evening. Right now, this doesn't look like a major snow event just yet, but minor accumulations are possible through early Saturday - mostly likely remaining right around an inch. While we will see a drop in temperatures for the upcoming weekend, the chill is will actually be fairly typical for mid-January.