Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, and Ogle, Caroll, and Whiteside Counties in northern Illinois along with Green, Rock and Walworth Counties in southern Wisconsin are under a Winter Storm Warning that will go in effect either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and run through Thursday evening. Lee and DeKalb Counties in northern Illinois are included in the Winter Weather Advisory.

It still looks like the heavier band of snow with latest model runs will trend right near the Rockford area. Rockford stretching southwestward all the way down to the Savanna area and then stretching northeastward towards Milwaukee, are the areas included in that heavier band of snow where 4-7″ are expected. South of the DeKalb area and southeastern Lee County will likely see 1-3″. The Galena, Monroe, Janesville and Rochelle areas about 2-4″.

The heaviest snow will come late Thursday morning through the afternoon, but lighter snow will start around 6-7am for morning commutes. Winds are expected to gust up to 30 mph at times, so snow will be blown around too. Make sure to travel careful and allow extra time. There will likely be slick spots and with the snow falling heavy at times, hazardous travel conditions are possible.

Wednesday night temperatures will fall into the upper 20s under cloudy skies. Thursday temperatures will be warmer for the first half of the day near the 30-degree mark, then fall into the 20s, and even a low around 10 degrees with snow cover on the ground Thursday night.

Friday temperatures will be in the lower to mid 20s for the afternoon, below average, but at least there will be some sun returning. The weekend brings much warmer temperatures again. back into the upper 30s Saturday and lower 40s Sunday. Early next week we start the week off warm but then temperatures will fall into Tuesday and Wednesday.