Northern Illinois could see snow early next week: NWS

DIXON – Although expected snowfall amounts are not yet in forecasts, there is an elevated risk of snow next week through northwestern Illinois and east toward Chicago, National Weather Service meteorologists said Wednesday.

“There are signals for a strong wintry system to impact our area for early next week, most likely for the Monday afternoon through Tuesday night time frame,” said Justin Schultz of the NWS Quad-Cities’ office in Davenport, Iowa. “This system could bring accumulating snow to our region.”

That office develops forecasts for eastern Iowa and western Illinois, including Stephenson, Carroll, Whiteside, Rock Island, Henry, Bureau, Putnam and Mercer counties.

The NWS office in Romeoville also predicted an increased snow risk for Monday and Tuesday for its northern Illinois region, which includes Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Lake, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, La Salle, Kendall and Will counties.

There still are some uncertainties, however, when it comes to snowfall totals, including how much and where, as the system’s exact track is unclear, Schultz said.

“It does appear that this system could also pack some strong winds, which could lead to blowing snow and reduced visibility,” Schultz said.

Over the next few days, the forecast throughout northern Illinois – from Fulton on the Mississippi River east to Joliet – includes highs in the low to mid-30s and overnight lows of anywhere from 20 to 30 degrees. A slight warming is expected Monday, with snow starting to fall that evening.

Snowfall has been hard to come by across Illinois this season. December’s total snowfall ranged from about 4 inches in far northwestern Illinois to less than one-tenth of an inch in southern Illinois, or between 1 and 8 inches below normal, said Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford at the University of Illinois’ Illinois State Water Survey.

Preliminary reports show that December was the third warmest December on record, Ford said. In some Illinois locations, temperatures were as much as 10 degrees above average.

According to a news release from the Illinois State Water Survey, the average December temperature for the state was 39.2 degrees, 7.6 degrees above the average from 1991 to 2020.

For the second time in three years, Illinois has experienced an extremely mild December. Last month was the second warmest December in Rockford, the third warmest in Peoria, and the fourth warmest in Chicago and Moline.

None of the more than 120 National Weather Service stations in Illinois recorded a low temperature in the single digits last month, and many places hit the freezing mark only a handful of nights.

The December nighttime low temperatures were much higher than normal. The preliminary average December minimum temperature in Illinois is 32.2 degrees, which is the second highest on record statewide.

The preliminary statewide average total December precipitation was 2.99 inches, of 0.56 inches above the average from 1991 to 2020, according to ISWS.

December total precipitation ranged from about 4 inches in parts of northern Illinois to less than 1 inch in parts of far southern Illinois.

Most of northern Illinois was about 1 inch wetter than normal, while most of the state south of Interstate 64 was 1 to 3 inches drier than normal in December.