Timing: Things look pretty quiet for the overnight Thursday. A few flurries will be possible, with increasing snow chances around daybreak. The latest models are showing snow showers moving in closer to midday now, but we'll say snow is possible starting Friday morning and going through the evening before tapering off heading into Saturday morning.
Totals: This isn't expecting to be a major storm. The snow we're expecting will be very fluffy, which could boost accumulations through the afternoon. Looks like a few inches will be possible Friday, with heavier totals to our north. Southern Wisconsin could see 3-4" in some spots.Impacts: While it won't be a lot of snow, it looks like we'll see enough to make for some slick spots and messy roads. With temps being so close to the freezing mark Friday, some of our snow could melt and refreeze and temps drop Friday evening. Long story short... take it easy on the roads.
Orange Bowl Travel: If you're heading down to Florida on Friday to get a jump start on Orange Bowl festivities, be prepared for a few bumps in the road. Aside from snow locally, a wintry mix is possible for parts of southern Illinois and western Kentucky/Tennessee with showers in the forecast for the rest of the south.
Air travel to Florida might also be delayed slightly with Friday's snow, although flying will be much smoother than driving.
Just as meteorologist Eric Nefstead talked about this weekend the start of 2013 will be anything but warm! Clouds will be in abundance this morning and afternoon as snow falls in central and southern Illinois. A cold front passing through this morning will drop temperatures from the 30s into the low 20s and teens by this evening. If you're New Year's Eve plans take you out tonight don't worry about style, just worry about staying warm. By 7pm the mercury will drop to 18° and by the time you're ready to ring in the new year we'll be down to 14°. By daybreak Tuesday we will have fallen all the way into the single digits as high pressure moves in and skies clear. Wind chills tonight will also be an issue as some will wake up to chills as cold as -10°! Stay warm and Happy New Year!
The weather in 2012 was anything but ordinary. From deadly tornadoes downstate during the month of February, record breaking summer heat across the middle of the country, western wildfires, Hurricane Issac late in August, Superstorm Sandy in October and a tornado outbreak in the south on Christmas Day, we wonder what the year of 2013 will bring. Unfortunately for all you snow lovers it may not bring an abundance of the white stuff.
The first of year will begin with plenty of sunshine but plenty of cold to go along with it. Highs Tuesday afternoon are only expected to reach the mid to upper teens and then drop back into the single digits Tuesday night. The cold we'll experience this afternoon will only last for a day before our sights are set on warmer temperatures by the weekend and the second week of January. The image on the left is an ensemble map and shows the temperature anomaly at 850 mb (roughly 3,00ft above the surface). The numbers and coloring on this image correspond the how many standard deviations we will be above average. Beginning next week a major warm up is possible with forecast highs running anywhere between 4 and 8 standard deviations above average! This means it's possible that high temperatures by the middle of next week could very well warm into the 40s and maybe even the 50s! Now, before we get ahead of ourselves it's still a week away but signs are pointing to some sort of a warm up for the first two weeks of January. It does, however, looked to followed by another cool down towards the middle of the month.
The biggest headline from 2012 was how warm it was. The average temperature for Rockford last year was 53.1°, making it the warmest year we've seen on record.
The first you're probably familiar with. Our snow drought ended Thursday, after 290 days without measurable snow. That streak is the new record holder, beating our old record of 287 days back in 1922.
The other record was not as publicized. Friday's high of 30 marks the first time this cool season we had a high below the freezing mark. The only time it took Rockford longer to hit a sub-freezing high was 2001.
This second streak is relevant from a historical perspective. Pretty much every other year in the top five saw warmer than average temps for the rest of the winter, along with less than average snow. Will that be the case this year? Wait and see!