Few snowflakes mixed in with rain showers Tuesday morning

 

The snow shouldn't be anything that'll impact the commute Tuesday morning, but don't be surprised if you see a rain/snow mix, or just a few snow showers around sunrise.

Cloudy skies and a brisk east wind Monday helped to keep temperatures in the middle to upper 40s most of the afternoon. Light rain has been showing up on radar, but not much of that has actually been able to reach the ground. That's because there is still quite a bit of dry air over the Great Lakes, due in part to the east wind, causing the showers to evaporate before reaching the surface.

Over time the atmosphere will become a little more saturated allowing the rain to reach the surface. This should occur within the next couple of hours. Any precipitation during that time will remain mostly scattered. But as moisture continues to increase and low pressure moves further into eastern Illinois we'll begin to see a steadier rainfall. This will occur after 10pm. The rain will continue for most of the night, wrapping up by late morning Tuesday.

Colder air moving in from the north and west may be just enough to allow for some snow to mix in with the rain early Tuesday. Some of the precipitation may even switchover to all snow during that time. Any impacts to the commute Tuesday morning are expected to remain minimal due to air and ground temperatures remaining above freezing. Most of the precipitation will be done by Tuesday afternoon but we will hang on to the cloud cover through early evening.  

Winds will pick up once again, gusting to around 30 mph from the north and northwest. Highs will warm into the low to mid-40s.