Jan 25-26th Potential Something Part 3

[ILSNOW]

and KLOT nice update from Ricky

UPDATE...
1015 PM CST

There have been no changes made to the going Winter Storm Warnings
and Winter Weather Advisories. However, based off conditions in
the pre-dawn hours, the midnight shift may give consideration to
converting some of the warnings over to a Winter Weather Advisory.
This is because snowfall rates aside from lake enhancement near
Lake Michigan are expected to be mainly light and occasionally
moderate on Tuesday. The main message tonight remains hazardous
travel due to a variety of winter hazards, snow covered roads,
reduced visibility and at least patchy blowing snow in the north
due to 30-40 mph northeast wind gusts, and freezing rain and
drizzle south. Have overall lowered storm total snowfall a bit to
only locally to 6+" inland and highest amounts near Lake Michigan
in Illinois at 6-8", maybe a few spots coming in just above 8"+.
These changes were reflected in the updated WSW text product.

The evolution of our winter system is quite different from just a
few days ago, as double or triple barreled weaker low pressure is
analyzed from southwest MO to western KY, instead of a stronger
low lifting northeast of the Ohio River. Forcing is being driven
by weakening, but still certainly sufficient large scale forcing
from 500 mb short-wave, along with mesoscale f-gen (thermal
gradient) driven forcing at the lower and mid-levels, plus also
augmented by convective processes by very steep lapse rates aloft.

Trends have been a challenge this evening, as we`ve been fighting
pockets of dry air aloft. Most notably, dry air centered around
850 mb was driven into far northern Illinois and southern
Wisconsin earlier, which guidance did a fairly poor job of
capturing. That dry air finally lost out as snow banding finally
pushed north. There`s been some good f-gen driven banding amidst
the dry air issues, so reports of nearing 2" have trickled in
centered near I-88 and just south. More convective elements have
been streaming northward out of central Illinois thanks to
aforementioned very steep mid and upper lapse rates sampled by
DVN RAOB. The dry air at 500 mb and above is allowing for
convection to help fill in some of the dry pockets where snow has
been more prevalent and this should be the case north of I-80 for
a decent chunk of the overnight.

850 mb warm nose appears it made inroads into our far southern CWA
near and south of US-24, while to the north of that varied precip
types have been from pockets of saturation amidst some 700 mb
drying and above described convection that has brought reports of
snow and sleet. This dry layer at 700 mb will shift northward
overnight, causing a loss of cloud ice in the DGZ and introducing
a concern for some freezing drizzle from I-80 and south into
Tuesday morning. It appears that for areas to the north of that up
to around I-88 corridor, saturation depth will be to just cold
enough at -9 to -11C to keep snow as primary p-type. Steady
generally light to moderate snow rates with briefly heavier snow
will occur until about 3 or 4 AM, and then expecting the lake
enhancement to take hold along the Illinois shore. On Tuesday, the
500 mb and 700 mb circulations will slowly translate across the
area, keeping lighter snow going and resulting in light additional
accumulations of 1-2/1-3", but higher near lake in IL at up to
2-5". The midnight shift will assess transition to lake effect
snow Tuesday night, which should last into Wednesday and add
additional accumulations for affected areas.

Castro

[madwx]

Snow starting here as a wall of 25 dBz reflectivities hit us.  Moderate sized flakes right now 

[mimillman]

2 hours ago, mimillman said:

Definitely having the dry air issues previously alluded to but not super concerned yet. I’d be more concerned if it were 11pm and we still had issues 

Now I’m concerned 

[cyclone77]

Just under 4" and still ripping.  Getting pretty lucky with this localized enhancement the past hour or two.  Winds aren't really too gusty, so not all that much blowing/drifting snow unlike earlier.

[RCNYILWX]

For everyone with RadarScope in LOT CWA, use tORD or tMDW Long Range Z while KLOT is down.

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[RCNYILWX]

Now I’m concerned 

Filling in better now and maybe lake enhancement starting to kick in.

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[vortex]

Last few bands were all snow here.  Maybe around an inch total.  

[SchaumburgStormer]

The good bands near @cyclone77 have been weakening a bit but feeding to mby. Steady moderate snow for awhile now

[hlcater]

Snow is about to resume in Iowa city. Hopefully these hang around through tomorrow as modeled and add a few more inches. 6” call for CR/IC is looking solid. 

[hawkeye_wx]

I just went out and could only find a max of 2.8" on any of my snow boards in the back yard.  One board only had about 1.8".    I hate when it's windy and the snow blows across the yard.  We may have actually received a bit more than that, but it has been underwhelming.  We've had too many breaks in the snow and had poor rates for the last few hours.

[cyclone77]

Back down to light snow after several hours of steady moderate snow at times with very large flakes.  Haven't measured in awhile but guessing over 4" now.  HRRR/RAP show another 0.2" of precip by late tomorrow so should hopefully be able to squeeze a few more inches out by then, albeit a much much slower pace than what fell this evening.  

[weathafella]

Was out for awhile walking.  Fatties from the lake mixed with plates in from the synoptic system.  Felt like a snowstorm.

[michaelmantis]

Nicest flakes of this storm (and season) so far.

Now just need that dry slot around Joliet to fill in. 

2-3 hours of this and I’ll be happy. Will see what the morning brings!

[hawkeye_wx]

It continues to be underwhelming here.  I've seen nothing but light snow for the last four hours.  The brighter radar returns are not verifying at the surface.

[Hoosier]

Saw some 14" reports in Nebraska and Iowa.  Not sure if there's anything higher to this point.

[hawkeye_wx]

Madison is looking pretty good.  Plenty of model runs had them getting left out completely.  Same goes for Waterloo, IA.

[tuanis]

Goodnight y’all. It took until midnight, but it’s finally doing its thing out there. Hope it keeps up while I sleep.

[cyclone77]

1 minute ago, Hoosier said:

Saw some 14" reports in Nebraska and Iowa.  Not sure if there's anything higher to this point.

So much for the 30" in southern IA eh?

4.5" here with snow picking up a bit again.

[NEILwxbo]

4.1” at DKB co op station. More than I thought we’d have at this point 

[hawkeye_wx]

4 minutes ago, NEILwxbo said:

4.1” at DKB co op station. More than I thought we’d have at this point 

Wow, you have more than I do.

[NEILwxbo]

21 minutes ago, hawkeye_wx said:

Wow, you have more than I do.

Not sure how the hell that happened

[jcwxguy]

1 hour ago, Hoosier said:

Saw some 14" reports in Nebraska and Iowa.  Not sure if there's anything higher to this point.

Officially 14.5" at Lincoln airport. My final total 15.2" in far east lincoln

[weathafella]

Ripping pretty good in Evanston.   Eyeballing 2-3.

[A-L-E-K]

Probably 3 ish here

[IllinoisWedges]

Weenie band right now. Pound town activated. 

[RCNYILWX]

Ripping here in southeast Naperville. Huge flakes and legit +SN under this band. Calling it 2.9" now but we're stacking quickly. Just got home from the office, it was freezing drizzle/mist and snow grains when I left there, and the band suddenly blew up near Bolingbrook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chicago Storm]

Had periods of SN to +SN through the night, and am over 3” here thus far.


.

[Chicago Storm]

Lake enhancement showing up in WI, around Manitowoc and vicinity.


.

[CheeselandSkies]

3 hours ago, hawkeye_wx said:

Madison is looking pretty good.  Plenty of model runs had them getting left out completely.  Same goes for Waterloo, IA.

Felt like a real winter wonderland out there coming into work for the first time in a while. Quite a bit of blowing/drifting going on.

[A-L-E-K]

V nice looking cake job, hopefully the lake band doesn't blast through too quick, gonna need some help to hit the call