WINTER STORM UPDATE
2:30 PM Wednesday Update
Coldest night of the season to follows the equivalent of a full December’s snow in parts of the area; more snow due Thursday night and icy storm threatens by Sunday
Single digits low temperatures, the coldest to date this season, are headed for many sections of the Chicago area Wednesday night. Freshly-fallen snow is among the most reflective surfaces on earth—something which facilitates strong cooling once the sun sets. With the area now solidly snow covered, Wednesday night/Thursday morning lows of 0 to 5-degrees in the coldest western suburbs aren’t out of the question ranging to the low teens overnight in northwest Indiana and up against Lake Michigan in the city. The cold air’s arrival is already underway. Temperatures as we post this at 2pm continue falling and have dropped to the low 20s across Chicago western suburbs.
The final moderate bursts of lake snow continue riding most directly into Cook and Will counties in Illinois and Lake and Porter counties in Indiana but are shifting south with time and expected to be exiting Cook County entirely later this afternoon. The plume of lake moisture is on the move, drifting south into Indiana where it will diminish tonight. Visibilities Wednesday morning and early afternoon have dropped under a mile in spots during the heavier lake squalls---only to recover amid cloud breaks which allow sunshine. Skies have completely cleared in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs.
These lake snows in combination with the more general “system” snow which fell late Tuesday and Tuesday night as the Alberta Clipper rushed by have pushed storm snowfall tallies to over 9” in areas just north of Chicago proper. That’s nearly a full month’s snowfall (based on area norms) in a single storm. Areawide accumulations range from 3 to 9.2”. And, we’re not done yet. The pattern remains extraordinarily active and more accumulating snow is due Thursday night followed by what could be another icy weekend storm Saturday night and Sunday---the second is as many weekends!
Here’s a brief rundown of some area snowfalls which my CLTV colleague Mike Hamernik helped put together. Many thanks to veteran National Weather Service observer Frank Wachowski and to my meteorological colleagues Steve Kahn and Richard Koeneman as well as to NWS-COOP observers Phil Rider in Mundelein and Patrick Skatch in Oak Brook among others as well as to the National Weather Service Forecast Office at Romeoville and all who have contributed snow observations:
Buffalo Grove 9.2”
Lincolnshire 9.0”
Waukegan 8.0”
Arlington Heights 8.0”
Mundelein 7.6”
O’Hare 5.5”
Oak Brook 5.4”
Downers Grove 5.4”
Midway Airport 4.6”
Valparaiso 4.4”
Park Forest 4.0”
Wilmington 3.0”
Morris 2.8”
I’ll update the situation on our 5:55 pm and 9 PM WGN reports and here on our weather blog. Until then, be safe!
Tom Skilling
Chief Meteorologist WGN/Chicago Tribune