Saturday, December 22, 2007

Fog, Rain, Snow, and Wind Oh My!!!

Here are the four main weather conditions to be mindful of this weekend:

1. Fog. Yes the advisory has been lifted for the stateline...but as of right now...visibility is definately still very limited.
Here are the visibility right now in terms of miles for the following towns:

Madison, WI: .50 miles
Milwaukee, WI: .13 miles
Monroe, WI: .25 mies
Beloit, WI: .25 miles
Lake Geneva, WI: Zero visiblity

Galena, IL: 4 miles
Freeport, IL: .25 miles
Rockford, IL: .25 miles
Dixon, IL: .50 miles
Rochelle, IL: .25 miles
DeKalb: .25 miles
LaSalle, IL: 4 miles
Please be careful as you drive tonight and allow extra time to reach your destination.

2. Rain: Rain started mid morning today welcoming you to the start of winter. As we go into the overnight hours the rain will begin to taper off and transition into snow.

3. Snow: Snow will begin to fall later this evening and last into the early morning hours.
Snow will accumulate 1-2 inches per hour for a time Saturday night causing very bad driving and visibility issues.
Snowfall accumulations will be heaviest west of Rockford where more than six inches is expected. For DeKalb, Sycamore, and McHenry County, only 1-3 inches with this one. Rockford's in the middle (average) area with totals that will come in on the high side of 3-6 inches. Snow tomorrow will start off in the morning and taper off into flurries by tomorrow afternoon.

4. Wind.
Gusts will approach 40mph Saturday night. Should we remain strong for a period of three hours, this weather may approach Blizzard Warning criteria. We will advise but travel Saturday night. Winds will come from the west tomorrow with gusts reaching up to 40 mph.

9 comments:

tony said...

I am no forecaster, but I have read all over that we are only expecting 1-2 inches,I don't think we will see 3-6 inches. But even 2inches would give us a white xmas being I barely have any snow left in my yard. Lots of bare ground now. I am hoping for big burst of snow to whiten it up again.

HeyBuddy said...

Keep in mind what Eric & Co. said: IF the storm tracks either 50 miles east or west of what was forecasted, our totals for snow would either rise or lower due to that.

Seeing the radar, it looks like at the moment that it has tracked west, and as for Christmas -- if it's a dusting and you call it a white Christmas... great, but I'm not a big fan of a lot of snow being dumped on us at one time... so I'm thankful for the pressure shift myself.

tony said...

Honestly, I think the track is the same, but the storm is slower than what they said. I think eric said that the snow would start between 7 and 10pm and it is raining. I read that we will get dry slotted which is why they are calling for 1-3 inches. But who knows, the dry slot might go over chicago and keep us in the snow.

Justin said...

The freezing line is barely moving at all... are we even going to get more than an inch of snow?

Garrett said...

What a crazy storm this is not only for us but for the rest of the midwest. I was just looking at the severe weather alerts across the country and there are severe thunderstorm warnings in west central Indiana. I mean how often do you see that at the end of December.

Justin said...

11 degrees with wind chill of -7... I cant believe how fast the temps fell

Dom said...

It was quite rainy in Lake county yesterday. Storm passed through at 2am with heavy showers. Temperatures right now 12 degrees with gusty SW winds at 45mph

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/12/fp0_162.shtml

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/12/fp0_168.shtml

The GFS continues to advertise some kind of storm spinning up the Lakes/OV. However it's quite fast and jetstream flattens out west. Bears watching in the next several days.

Could see a big storm this weekend again. There is also a great central US weather discussion

www.centralwx.com

WI Weather Buff said...

Yah - unless I decide to use a crowbar it looks like I may not be able to open any of my car doors before Tuesday. The doors, not the locks, are solidly frozen shut.

Staff said...

I know they are saying that we are suppose to have another possible snowstorm this coming week! I sure hope this brings the end to all the snow that we have had! This wind is really taking the house and making it more cold than before, throw a log in the fire I tell you and enjoy XMAS weekend!

Ikey