Temps expected to moderate
LINCOLN – After a blast of winter weather this week, temperatures look to moderate over the next several days with no big precipitation events in the forecast.
It will be cold to start off the weekend after several inches of snow fell across a large swath of Illinois since Tuesday night but it will turn dry.
“That will be a welcome change after this big system,” admits Alex Erwin, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln.
The forecast is dry through at least Wednesday with a slight warming trend to more seasonal temperatures with highs in the 30s for the middle of next week. A strong cold front Tuesday set the stage for a long duration precipitation event which started off as rain before changing over to freezing rain, sleet and snow.
“We saw heavy snow reports across the area with as much as 10 to 12 and localized amounts of 13 inches along the Illinois River valley,” explained Erwin.
Springfield and Bloomington saw anywhere from 6 to 9 inches of snow while 6 to 7 inches was observed in the Champaign area. The cutoff zone was mainly near the Interstate 70 corridor Wednesday, with mainly rain south of there throughout the day.
Light snow lingered across the state Thursday morning with moderate snow south of Interstate 72. Otherwise, blowing and drifting snow was the biggest concern approaching midday.
“The biggest concern is on east-west oriented roads where the snow will drift back onto the road even after it has been plowed,” added Erwin.
This was one of the biggest snows across the area in recent years but many locations came in well below their all-time snow records.
“Specifically for February 2, I know Lincoln and Peoria set daily snowfall records.”
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