Snowfall during the month of February has been significantly lacking with only a tenth of an inch being recorded in Rockford. This is 7.9 inches *below* our monthly average, and 14.3 inches below our average since December 1st. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be making up that deficit before the month ends, but there are some opportunities for a little snow heading into the weekend.
It’s hard to think about snowfall, though, when temperatures are expected to climb close to 60 degrees Friday afternoon. But a strong cold front coming through Friday evening will shift into southern Illinois Saturday morning. This will help pull in a colder air mass Saturday and Sunday, keeping temperatures in the low 30s. Our average high should be in the upper 30s.
An upper-level disturbance moving across the Midwest and western Great Lakes will produce a west to east band of snow, moving in mid to late morning and continuing into the afternoon. This will impact most of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. While the snow isn’t expected to be much, totals approaching an inch or two will be possible and may have some impacts if you’re out and about Saturday afternoon.
The snow will move from west to east through the afternoon, coming to an end by the evening. Temperatures on Saturday will only warm into the low 30s, falling into the teens Saturday night under a clearing sky. Our coldest air will arrive for Sunday which will hold temperatures close to 30 degrees. Temperatures will then slowly begin to warm into the first week of March…