If you’ve been following my forecast this week on CBS4, you know that I’ve been talking about two snow events this weekend, along with gusty winds and very cold temperatures into early next week.
I want to give you a quick update because it’s shaping up to be very dangerous Sunday and Monday with blizzard or blizzard-like conditions!
First off, for tonight, light snow will quickly race through the area and we’ll pick up accumulations of about 1-2″.
The light, fluffy snow will be blown around by winds of 15-30 miles-per-hour causing reduced visibility tonight and Saturday.
While the sun will be shining Saturday, that’ll be deceiving because we’ll see falling temperatures into the single digits, along with gusty winds and blowing snow.
Now, let’s talk about the next system coming in Saturday night and Sunday because this is where conditions deteriorate for the rest of the weekend into early next week!
Snow is likely Saturday night and Sunday. It’s looking more and more likely that another 1-3″ of snow (possibly 4″) will fall in that time period. If it was just snow, that wouldn’t be that much of a problem.
However, it’ll be accompanied by very gusty winds and bitterly cold, falling temperatures. The map above indicates that a “Winter Storm Watch” is in effect for the Quad Cities (blue shading) for Sunday afternoon into Monday morning. This could very well be upgraded to a “BLIZZARD WARNING” late in the weekend.
While there will be snow on Sunday, there’ll be considerable blowing and drifting snow into Monday, which could cause the blizzard conditions.
Winds from noon Sunday through Monday afternoon will be out of the northwest at 15-30 miles-per-hour (MPH) with wind gusts of 25-45 MPH!
Now, let’s talk life-threatening temperatures and wind chills.
From Sunday night through Tuesday afternoon, temperatures will likely be below zero, as cold as -15°.
When you combine those temperatures with winds of 15-40 MPH, we’ll have brutally cold wind chills of -25° to -50°!
For those of you that know me and my forecasting style of not over dramatizing weather events unless it warrants, THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
To sum this all up: between now and Sunday, 2-5″ of snow (possibly 6″) will fall across eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. Along with the snow, blustery winds will cause considering blowing and drifting snow. By the end of the weekend into Monday and Tuesday, life-threatening temperatures (lows of -10° to -20°) and wind chills (-25° to -50°) are likely.
Please share this information with your friends via social media.
I’ll have more updates throughout the weekend in my blog and on “CBS4 News This Morning” Monday morning beginning at 5 a.m.
Be safe!
Anthony
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