Freezing rain, wet snow to bring impacts to the morning commute

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY remains in effect for all of northern Illinois until noon. The portion of the advisory that includes our south central Wisconsin areas runs until 2PM.

Currently, precipitation continues to march northward towards the Illinois/Wisconsin border. With regional temperatures sitting close to the freezing mark, this will start out as freezing rain. 

If you plan to be out for the morning commute, make sure to implement extra time into the commute as roads, especially untreated and elevated surfaces will be icy. Also, give yourself enough following and stopping distance to avoid accidents and skidding. Sidewalks and parking lots will also be susceptible to the freezing rain that falls this morning. So please watch your step. 

Again, ice accumulations for those north of I-88 should wind up  at or below a tenth of an inch. The “heaviest” and more impactful ice totals continue to be focused along and south of the interstate. From there, a quick transition to a wintry mix/wet snow is set to occur. Snow may fall for a couple of hours resulting in minor, slushy accumulations. 

Areas along and north of 20 have the best chance for 1"-2" snow totals. Precipitation should taper off during the first few hours of the afternoon, leaving us mostly cloudy. However, a rush of warm air aloft will help bring the potential for evening and overnight dense fog. As of this moment, the National Weather Service doesn't have any dense fog alerts in place for the Stateline. That's something we'll have to monitor once the afternoon arrives. 

Following the conclusion of today's wintry mess, our weather pattern remains somewhat active as we jump into the second half of the week. Another storm system sliding in from the south will bring the chance for scattered freezing rain at first, with a transition to all rain shortly after daybreak. Wednesday's chances should conclude either at or shortly after mid-day, leaving us mostly cloudy once again.