Light Snow before a Beautiful Weekend

We have to get through a bit of snow first, but we have a beautiful weekend in store for northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

A fast moving clipper system will dive southeast this afternoon from North Dakota into southern Minnesota and then into southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. With this track in place, a light rain snow mix will move in just after dinner tonight. The mix of rain and snow will continue into the overnight hours before ending early Saturday morning. Good news is, we won't see much accumulate, under a half of an inch possible.

After that, spring will arrive into the Stateline this weekend. Clouds will decrease into Saturday afternoon as temperatures warm to about 40°. If you want it to get a little warmer, you won't be disappointed with the forecast for Sunday. Temperatures warm to 50° under partly cloudy skies.

Next week the pattern turns more active, we will see multiple rain chances, but also temperatures warming into the 60's. Enjoy!

Illinois Severe Weather Preparedness Week

It may be a little difficult to think about severe weather with still a little snow on the ground, and the possibility of more snow on the way.  But it's important to stay prepared in the event severe weather were to happen.

This week is severe weather preparedness week in Illinois.  Our goal is to help increase awareness of severe weather within the public, and to remind you to review your weather safety procedures at home, work, school, place of worship, on the road and elsewhere.  Severe weather can strike any day, time and month of the year and it's important to have a safety plan in place and practice that plan on a routine basis.  And if you don't have a plan, now is the time to act.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, was the statewide tornado drill.  You probably heard the sirens, had your weather radio go off and even saw the alert come over your TV or hear it over the radio.  And while you might not have acted during that drill, I hope it got you thinking about what you would do in the event severe weather - thunderstorm or tornado - were to occur where you were.  Where would you go?  What would you do?

April 9th, 2015 should serve as a great reminder that large and destructive tornadoes can, and in fact do, happen in northern Illinois.  They are not very common, but they do happen.  Severe weather in Illinois usually occurs between the months of April and June.  But as history shows us, large tornadoes can occur in the 'off' season as well.  The January, 2008 Poplar Grove EF 3 tornado and the November 22nd, 2010 EF 2 Caledonia tornado.  Also, the severe weather outbreak on November 17th, 2013 when an EF 4 tornado ripped through the town of Washington, IL on an early Sunday morning.  Those three examples prove that severe weather can occur any time during the year.

The most favorable time for tornadoes is between 3pm and 10pm, usually due to the heating of the day.  However, severe weather at night is often the most dangerous and frequent with damaging winds and flash flooding.

So before the week is up, sit down with your family and develop a severe weather plan.  Just like you may have a fire plan for your home, develop that same type of plan for severe weather.

If you'd like more information on Illinois Severe Weather Preparedness Week, click here for weather information from the National Weather Service.

Tuesday Am Snow

The Winter Weather Advisories that were put in place last night have all been cancelled. There hasn't been much snow, Rockford has seen 0.6" of snow through early this morning and 1.2" in Milledgeville.

Currently there is some light snow falling along I-90 and 39 this morning. There will be little to no extra accumulation with this, but could still cause slick spots as you head out. Also, visibility is low in some spots with areas of fog and light snow falling.

While we aren't seeing any returns on the radar, there is the possibility for patchy and light freezing drizzle west of Freeport. This will allow for untreated roads and sidewalks to be on the slick side as well.

Skies will stay mostly cloudy today with temperatures making it into the mid 30's.

Spring-like Warmth Returns Next Week

A major pattern change in the jet stream arrives late this weekend and will provide the possibility of several 50 and 60 degree days!  Unfortunately the warmth will also come with a little more active pattern, with nearly every day next week featuring the chance for showers. 

As is typical with a pattern change, the jet stream will strengthen.  And with a strengthening jet stream will also come the chance for thunderstorms.  Some of which we may hear next Tuesday or Wednesday.

It's been pretty common for us to get a nice warm-up followed by a big cool down.  But this time it looks like the warmth may be sticking around for a little while.  Average highs in the middle of March should be in the mid 40's.  Forecast high temperatures could have us staying in the 50's through the middle of the month.

Winter Weather Advisory Wednesday Night

7:20pm Update: Light snow continues to show up on radar, but likely only just light flurries are actually reaching the surface.  Actually just received a report from down near the Dixon area of very light flurries beginning to fall.

The reason why the radar looks like more snow is falling than what's actually reaching the ground is because a lot of what's being picked up on radar is within the cloud itself.  And with drier air at the surface, a lot of that snow is evaporating before reaching the surface.

This is an atmospheric sounding from the Quad Cities National Weather Service from Wednesday evening.  The green line is the dew point temperature and the red line is the temperature.  The further apart the two lines are, the drier the air is.  So, it's going to take a little while before the atmosphere saturates enough to get the snow to reach the surface.  We'll likely see more snow begin to fill in close to 9pm/10pm.

A Winter Weather Advisory will go into effect for the following counties at 9pm: Carroll, Whiteside, Lee, Ogle and DeKalb.

Clouds will continue to increase through the evening Wednesday with light snow moving in between 10pm and 11pm.  The snow will become a little more steady overnight and early Thursday morning.

Highest snow totals, those close to 3", will found along I-88.  A little further south totals near 4" could be possible for places like Amboy, Mendota and Paw Paw.

With the cooler temperatures it shouldn't take long for the snow to accumulate on the ground and roads.  And with the steadier snow bands, visibility under one mile will be possible during the early morning commute.

For counties within the advisory, snow totals between 2" to 4" will fall.  North of that, including Freeport, Rockford and Belvidere totals between 1" and 2" are likely.  Southern Wisconsin is only expected to receive a dusting, up to half an inch.

"You were so, so, so, SNOW wrong"

To quote my 8 year old Tuesday morning: "You were so, so, so, SNOW wrong, mom". 

Ouch...tough crowd at 7am.  But, waking up Tuesday morning to barely any snow on the ground was tough to see.  And before heading home Monday night, my fear that the possibility of us not seeing much snow did in fact become a reality.  Here's a little science into why that happened:

Tuesday Am Snow Update

 11:20am Update: Snow continues to fall across the Stateline and will stick around before clearing up closer to 1pm today. Within the snow bands visibility is reduced close to 1 mile, you'll want to watch for fast changing visibility today. Along with that, you'll want to take it slow while out driving this afternoon with slick areas likely on area roadways.

Current road conditions showing Highway 20 is snow and ice covered, along with 52. Use extreme caution while travels on these roadways.















7:00am Update: Winter Weather Advisory continues for most of the Stateline, but has been cancelled for Whiteside county. Advisory in place through 9am.







Skies are dry for now, but watching another band of snow currently in eastern Iowa that will pull eastward over the next couple hours.








Snow Update at 5:30am:

The Winter Storm Warning has been cancelled for the Stateline, and a Winter Weather Advisory is now in place through 9am. The heaviest band of snow has lifted northward into south central Wisconsin, and this in turn has shifted totals north.



The Rockford area currently looks to pick up 2 to possibly 3 inches of snow through about 9am. Some light snow is possible through lunch time before we dry up and stay cloudy the rest of the day. For areas south of Rockford, like Rochelle...Dixon...and Sterling look to see more of a snow and sleet mix This means less in terms of snow totals, but will still be slick with minor ice accumulations.
West of Rockford near Freeport also looks to see about an inch of snow.
If you are headed north this morning, into south central Wisconsin, this is where you will see some of the higher totals for the Stateline, locally four inches or more is possible.

Impacts this morning will include periods of on and off snow this morning through about 9am. South of Rockford watch for minor ice accumulations and snow accumulation near an inch. Roads will be slick through the commute t his morning, but conditions will improve greatly by lunchtime today.