Storm Reports

12/12/10
12:53pm DeKalb, DeKalb Co. - Blizzard - VSBY between 1/4 to 1 mile in NW DeKalb
State Road 38 closed between DeKalb and Interstate 39

12:39pm Orfordville, Rock Co. 6.0" Snow

10:38am Freeport, Stephenson Co. - 4.0" - Snow - Storm Total

10:32 am Polo, Ogle Co. - 3.0" Snow - 30mph sustained winds with 2ft
drifts

9:21am 5 W Schapville, Jo Daviess Co. - 2.0" Snow - Snow has ended but amounts are difficult to measure due to wind

7:00am Monroe, Green Co. - 5.0" Snow

7:00am Delavan, Walworth Co, 3.4" Snow

7:00am Afton, Rock Co. - 4.0" Snow

1:36am Janesville, Rock Co. - 3.2" Snow  Storm total snowfall of 3.2"

12/11/10
9:30pm Janesville, Rock Co. - 1.5" Snow


6:35pm Monroe, Green Co. - 4.0" Snow

5:54pm Galena, Jo Daviess Co. - 2.5" Snow

5:02pm 2 W Dubuque, Dubuque IA - 2.3" - Light Snow Continues

4:30pm Freeport, Stephenson Co. - E2.0"  Snow

Winter Weather Update

IF YOU HAVE ANY SNOW REPORTS OR PICTURES PLEASE SEND THEM IN TO WEATHER@WTVO.COM

Low pressure continues to move east.  As it does things should quiet down for a little while before the wrap-around snow begins to move in later tonight/overnight.  The heavy snow that has been falling to the north will gradually shift east/southeast as the low pulls off to the east and move across southern Wisconsin.  Along the western side of the low blizzard conditions will continue for parts of Iowa, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.  Brief periods of snowfall rates of one inch per hour could be possible.


Snow continues to shift eastward as cold air begins to move in across northern Illinois.  As temperatures remain right around the freezing mark the snow may start off as a heavy, wet snow but is expected to turn to a lighter snow later tonight as temperatures fall.


3:15pm Update: Area of low pressure now beginning to move into northwest Illinois with mostly rain falling east of I-39 and a wet snow falling to the west.  A Blizzard Warning is now in effect for Rock, Green and Walworth counties in southern Wisconsin.  The low will continue to move east pretty much right across northern Illinois and as it does we should start to see any rain that is falling change over to snow from west to east.  We may have a dry period later tonight as a dry slot moves in on the backside of this system.  Light to moderate snow will likely begin during the overnight as temperatures fall and winds pick up and continue into Sunday morning. 

Winter Storm Warning for Rock, Green and Walworth Counties in southern Wisconsin and Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Ogle, Lee and DeKalb in northern Illinois
Blizzard Warning for Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll and Whiteside Counties

NOW (7am): Look for patchy light freezing rain/drizzle to continue across portions of northern Illinois early this mroning...especially along and west of I-39 with a little ice accumulation possible.  Temperatures will slowly begin to rise throughout the morning changing any frozen precipitation into rain.  Roads, sidewalks, driveways may remain slippery so please use caution if going out this morning.

As this low passes later this afternoon rain will begin to change to snow from west to east as cold air rapidly moves in behind.  Winds will begin to gust from the northwest creating bitterly cold wind chills by Sunday evening.  Blowing and drifting snow will also be a concern, no matter what the snowfall totals are.

Update on Approaching Winter Storm

Here’s the latest on what we’re expecting…
- A bit of freezing drizzle and fog overnight into early Saturday morning.
- Freezing drizzle changing to light rain Saturday morning and early afternoon. Highs: mid-30s.
- Sleet by mid-afternoon Saturday.
- Sleet changing to snow by late afternoon. Up to 1” of snow accumulation.
- Snow early Saturday evening (another 1-2”), then a short break in the action.
- More snow Sunday morning. Another 1-2” expected. By now, however, the winds will be absolutely FIERCE! So blowing snow will create near-blizzard conditions. Travel is not advised on Sunday. Also, highs on Sunday will only be around 15, but wind chills will be -20F or colder at times!
- Snow should end by early Sunday afternoon, but blowing snow will continue to be a problem until Monday morning when the winds subside somewhat.

*So doing the math above, we’re expecting a total of 3-5” of snow. But all the blowing and drifting will complicate travel late Saturday night and Sunday. Be careful out there!  --TS

Fog/Freezing Drizzle Tonight...

As we talked about in tonight's earlier newscasts, areas of fog and freezing drizzle will impact travel tonight and early Saturday morning. This special weather statement just came in from the NWS office in Chicago:

...AREAS OF FOG AND FREEZING TEMPERATURES TONIGHT...
AREAS OF FOG HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING AND ARE
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TONIGHT AND INTO SATURDAY MORNING. THE FOG
MAY BECOME DENSE IN SOME AREAS...REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO ONE
QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES.


IN ADDITION...WITH TEMPERATURES BELOW FREEZING IN MANY AREAS...
THE FOG MAY ALLOW ICE TO FORM...ESPECIALLY ON ELEVATED SURFACES
SUCH AS BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES.

Blizzard and Winter Storm Watch

A Blizzard Watch has been issued for Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside Counties effective Saturday evening lasting through Sunday afternoon.

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for Rock, Green, Walworth, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Ogle, Lee and DeKalb counties effective Saturday evening lasting through Sunday.

A strong low pressure system will begin to develop across the Plains tonight and move into the Sateline by Saturday evening.  A mix of rain/sleet/snow/freezing rain will be possible late tonight and early Saturday.  The storm will then begin to strengthen as it moves across the Stateline pulling in much colder air behind it bringing snowfall back to the region.  Northerly winds will likely gust in excess of 45 mph.  While snowfall amounts might not exceed 6", the very strong winds will cause blowing and drifting.  In addition, temperatures will fall quickly Sunday creating  dangerous wind chills of -25° to -10°.

Chief Meteorologist Ty Shesky will have more for you tonight on the WTVO Channel 17 News at 5pm.

The Calm Before the Storm......

The weather across north central Illinois today will be relatively quiet.  The has been some fog across the area early this morning, but it will burn off by 10 am leaving skies mostly sunny.  A few clouds are expected to develop during the afternoon, but temperatures will warm to near freezing or sligthly above melting some of the snow on area roadways.The wind will be  5 to 10 mph from the west becoming southwest this afternoon.  The weak ridge of high pressure will shift off to the east tonight as a major winter storm begins to develop over the plains.  Warm air riding up over the retreating cold air could cause some light snow to develop tonight.  Amounts are not expected to be significant before the precipitation changes over to freezing rain and rain as the low pushes east across Iowa and then across northern Illinois.  This track is not favorable for producing heavy snow over northern Illinois.  The heaviest snow will fall to the north of the track across Wisconsin, and then northen Michigan.  There may be some drizzle of freezing drizzle in the afternoon before the precipitation changes back over to snow on Saturday night.  Some accumulaitons in the 2" to 3" range are possible Saturday night into early Sunday.  The big news is that there will be a very intense outbreak of arctic cold air on Sunday as the departing storm system wraps up.  Very strong winds of 20 to 30 mph or more are anticipated from the northwest, bringing the coldest weather of the season to the Stateline Sunday night.
 Actual temperatures will drop to -5 to -10 by early Monday morning, and afternoon tempertures will remain in the single digits.  Slow moderation in temps will take place by Wednesday and Thursday.
By Meteorologist
Eric Nefstead

Update on Weekend Snow

Courtesy: Environment Canada

While there is still quite a bit of variation in the models' forecast track of the oncoming area of low pressure this weekend, we are starting to get a slightly better idea of what's going to happen in terms of snow and wind on Saturday and Sunday. At left is the 60-hour forecast prog of the Canadian model, which I think gives the best compromise amongst all the model solutions at the moment. It depicts a surface low passing overhead or just to the south of the Stateline on Saturday evening. This track would leave Wisconsin in the heaviest band of snow. Around here, we'd probably see a mix of rain and snow on Saturday morning and early afternoon, changing to all snow by mid-afternoon. After getting about 2-4" of accumulation, a break from the snow is possible by evening with the low passing overhead, then some fluffy, light snow would wrap-around this low as it continues eastward late Saturday night and Sunday morning. Even though the snow would taper-off Sunday morning, powerful north to northwesterly winds would blow this snow around and bring us biting-cold wind chill values of 10-20 degrees below zero by Sunday morning. In fact, wind chill values could approach 30 below zero on Sunday night! We'll continue to watch this weather system for you and post more updates on here as more information comes in.  --TS