A pair of winter storms expected this week could bring Central Illinois its biggest snowfall of the season so far.
“We are, in fact, dealing with some double barrel action,” said Mike Albano, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln.
Albano said the first system is forecasted to arrive Wednesday afternoon and linger into the evening, with travel implications lasting through Thursday morning.
“For parts of Bloomington-Normal and points to the northwest, Peoria, this could be perhaps the biggest snow that we've seen so far this season,” he said. “As we see it today, the Peoria area has only gotten about seven inches of snow. Current forecasts may double that.”
On Monday, the NWS announced a winter storm watch is in effect for Wednesday morning through late Wednesday night, with a 40-60% chance of at least six inches of snow in portions of Central Illinois, mainly northwest of Interstate 55.
Albano said the middle portion of the state will be draped in a “transition zone,” where precipitation may be mixed between snow, sleet, and freezing rain along a corridor from Taylorville to Danville.
“Snowfall totals will be greater the further north you get across central and west central Illinois, up towards the Peoria area – that seems like it will be in the axis of heaviest snow,” he said.
Albano said the second system is forecasted to bring more accumulation Sunday, although it's unclear how much to expect.
“There's just so much volatility in the forecast, we really are just kind of taking it one at a time,” he said. “It does appear that this mid-week system is going to be the greater of the two. Of course, a lot can change in our line of business.”
Albano said that volatility could result in a wide temperature variance between the two storms.
“We're going to see kind of a glancing blow of some very cold air,” he said. “Really, wherever there's an appreciable snow pack, we’ll see temperatures crater Thursday night into the single digits. But then by Friday and Saturday, we're kind of right back up into the 30s, maybe even upper 30s.”
Albano said normal temperatures for the Peoria-Bloomington region for this time of year have highs in the mid-30s and lows around 20 degrees.
“We are forecasting highs in the mid-20s as we head into early next week, with overnight lows perhaps in the low teens,” he said. “So, quite a bit below normal as we kind of traverse the middle of February. But some beacon of hope does lie later in the month, where we will kind of jump towards the mild side of things.”
