Winter storm warning expanded into northern Illinois

Yesterday, all of our counties with the exception of Green County up in southern Wisconsin were placed under a Winter Storm Watch. Only one change has occurred since. They've upgraded Whiteside County to a Winter Storm Warning.

This is set to run from 9AM Wednesday to 3AM Thursday. As the day progresses, I'm sure we'll see further changes to our winter alerts as confidence on impacts and amounts increase. 

From what I gathered this morning, scattered light snow showers will begin to move in during the pre-dawn hours Wednesday. Impacts to the morning commute look minimal at this point. 

 

 

 

The main window for snowfall accumulations will be during the afternoon and evening where snowfall rates could approach .5"-1" per hour. This will likely result in significant impacts to both the afternoon and evening commutes in the form of snow-covered roads and sharply lower visibility. 

Of course, we'll have to see if the dry air displaced to the north has anything to say about accumulations. However, forecast models all show a similar scenario playing out, with the likelihood of 4"- 6" of snow falling across much of the region. Anything over 6" seems to be a big stretch. But whatever Rockford ends up getting will crush this winter's highest daily snowfall total which is 1.9" back on December 19th. Be sure to stay up to date on the forecast as small changes may still occur.