Wed-Fri, Feb 23-25th Winter Storm Recap

(7:15PM Monday - 2/28/22) A brief recap regarding the Wed-Fri, Feb 23-25th winter storm that brought a swath of accumulating snow/sleet/ice across the region and state during this time.

Overview...
A storm system impacted the region Wednesday, Feb 23rd through Friday, Feb 25th, which brought a swath of accumulating snow/sleet/ice across the region and state during this time. Model guidance showed the potential for this winter storm several days out, and in the end this winter storm produced overall very close to forecast expectations. ​An initial lead wave moved through the Ohio Valley Wednesday through Wednesday night, bringing with it an initial round of wintry precipitation across the southern half of the state. Furthermore, a main storm system developed across the Southern Mississippi Valley Thursday morning, which then tracked near the Ohio Valley Thursday afternoon through Thursday night, and eventually into the Mid-Atlantic by Friday morning. This storm system brought a renewed push of wintry precipitation across the region and state, Thursday morning through Friday morning.

Wednesday Afternoon - Thursday Morning, Feb 23-24th ~ Lead Wave Event:
An initial lead wave moved through the Ohio Valley Wednesday through Wednesday night, with an associated area of precipitation traveling along with it. Precipitation in the form of a mix of freezing rain/sleet/snow pushed across Southern Illinois, Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning. This period of mixed precipitation brought light accumulations of snow/sleet/freezing rain across Southern Illinois during this time.

Thursday Morning - Friday Morning, Feb 24-25th ~ Main Winter Storm Event:
​As the main storm system moved through the region, an associated renewed push of precipitation also pushed across the state and region, Thursday morning through Friday morning. This renewed push of precipitation, in the form of snow/sleet/ice, moved into portions of Western and Southwestern Illinois mid to late Thursday morning. This area of precipitation then further developed and spread across much of the state from midday Thursday through Thursday night, before ending by late Thursday night and early Friday morning. A transition zone set up much of this period across Central and Southern Illinois. Across this zone, precipitation types from south to north will range from rain across far Southern Illinois to freezing rain to sleet and then to snow across Central Illinois. North of this transition zone across affected areas of Northern and other portions of Central Illinois, all of the precipitation fell as snow. Snow varied in intensity, but was generally light to moderate at times, with snowfall rates of 0.5"+ an hour at times.

​In additional to the synoptic aspect to this winter storm period, conditions were favorable for some lake enhanced and lake effect snow across portions of Northeast Illinois, Wednesday night through Friday morning. This enhanced snowfall totals a bit for affected areas.
Below are map representations of the final forecasts and observed snowfall/sleet and ice totals across the state and adjacent areas. ​
​Below are the snowfall and ice forecasts for this winter storm.

Observed Snowfall Totals

Observed Ice Totals

Final Snowfall Forecast

Final Ice Forecast

​Wrap Up...
-An axis of accumulating snowfall with 1-3" totals occurred across Northern and Central Illinois, with higher snowfall amounts of 2-5" across portions Northeast Illinois.
-An axis of significant freezing rain/ice accumulations of a 0.10" ot 0.50" occurred across far Southern Illinois.
-Scattered tree damage and power outages occurred across far Southern Illinois, due to the freezing rain/ice.

JP