Light snow moves into northern Illinois Thursday morning

 

Sun-filled skies continued once again Wednesday afternoon which helped take our temperatures from the single digits above, and below, zero this morning into the mid and upper 20s this afternoon. While still below average and below freezing, the sunshine and light wind made it comfortable early February afternoon.

Clear skies will continue to remain clear through the evening which will allow our temperatures to drop back into the low teens. Increasing cloud cover will halt the drop further, causing temperatures to hold steady - or even rise - through Thursday morning. Combined with the increase in cloud cover will also be a warmer air mass. This will arrive with a warm front late in the afternoon Thursday.

Light snow will occur as both the warm front and low-pressure system move in from the west and northwest, mainly after daybreak Thursday morning. It won't be much with most only seeing a few flurries to a dusting locally. Those along and east of I-39 have the better chance for seeing light snow stick to the ground, west of there may only be a few flurries. Skies will stay mostly cloudy for much of Thursday afternoon as southwest winds increase during the evening. This will help push temperatures into the low 30s for the first time in nearly three weeks!

Temperatures will remain close to the 30-degree mark Thursday night but could be slightly warmer just a few thousand feet above. As the next system arrives early Friday morning, we could see the chance for a very light mix to occur, mixing in with a few light snow showers during that time. Temperatures will warm into the mid-30s but then begin to drop during the afternoon and evening following a second, and slightly stronger, cold front. This will take us down into the low teens Friday night. Wind chills will also be a factor with an increasing northerly wind Friday pushing values down to around, if not just slightly below, zero degrees Saturday morning.

Any snow that comes down between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon won't be much, generally around a dusting up to half an inch with most occurring along and east of I-39.