Thur, Feb 4th Snow & High Wind Event Update #3

(10:00PM - 2/3/21) A storm system will move through the region on Thursday, bringing accumulating snow to the northern half of the state and high winds to much of the state.

Summary...
A storm system will eject out into the Plains tonight, then move northeastward through the Midwest and Great Lakes on Thursday, as it further organizes and strengthens. After struggling with this storm system for several days, model guidance finally came into agreement this morning regarding the overall evolution. With this agreement, we have bumped expected snowfall accumulations a bit further south with our last two forecast updates...Though maximum amounts remain unchanged.

Forecast...
Northern Illinois: 
An area of precipitation will spread across Northern Illinois, Thursday morning through Thursday evening. Precipitation will briefly start as rain or a mix, before quickly changing over to snow...With snow being the main focus for most of the event. In addition to the snow, windy conditions are expected Thursday morning through Friday morning. The windy conditions, combined with the snow, will lead to blowing and drifting snow...Potentially near blizzard conditions at times.

Central Illinois...
An area of precipitation will spread across Central Illinois, Thursday morning through Thursday evening. After starting as a period of rain, colder air will wrap in, along rain to gradually change to snow during the late morning into mid afternoon. Additionally, windy conditions are expected Thursday morning through Thursday night. 

Southern Illinois...
An area of rain will spread across Southern Illinois, from early Thursday morning through Thursday night. It is possible that rain ends as a few snow showers Thursday evening, across portions of Southern Illinois. In addition to the rain, windy conditions are expected Thursday morning through early Thursday night.

​What's expected...
Snowfall totals of 2-5" are expected generally along/north of I-88, with amounts tapering to the south across the rest of Northern and Central Illinois. In addition to the snow, high winds are expected across much of the state, Thursday morning through Friday morning. Wind gusts of 30-45MPH are expected during this time. Across Northern Illinois, the combination of snow and high winds could lead to near blizzard conditions at time.

​Below is the snow forecast for this event.

JP