Chicago snow timeline: When you can expect accumulation in your area
CHICAGO - The arctic cold front moving through Chicagoland this afternoon will bring scattered snow, high winds, falling temperatures and subzero wind chills.
A Wind Advisory is now in effect for the entire Chicago area until midnight for west-northwesterly winds gusting as high as 45 mph.
Once the scattered snow begins to fall, the high winds and falling snow will lead to dramatically reduced visibility at times. This could impact the late afternoon and evening commute.
Timeline of snow showers
Scattered rain and snow showers will arrive in the far north and northwest suburbs around 4 p.m., and then quickly move from north to south through the area.
As temperatures drop, any precipitation in the form of rain will quickly transition to snow. Brief heavy snow squalls will be possible from roughly 4 to 8 p.m. in Chicagoland.
Commuters should be aware of quickly changing road conditions. Heavier bursts of snow will be capable of quickly coating the roads in a thin layer of snow. The snow combined with high winds will also lead to reduced visibility, leading to the potential for hazardous travel.
Snow showers will end by 8 or 9 p.m., and then the rest of the night will be all about the cold. Air temperatures will drop into the teens tonight, and wind chills will likely be subzero by late evening through Thursday morning.
Thursday forecast
Winds will remain gusty on Thursday with northwest winds gusting between 25-35 mph during the day. With high temperatures only in the 20s, wind chills will climb no higher than the mid-teens.
Thursday will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy with highs in the mid to upper 20s. A few more clouds will roll in on Friday, with skies becoming partly cloudy during the day. High temperatures will remain below normal near 30 degrees.
As of now, the weekend looks pleasant. Saturday will be partly cloudy with highs near 40, and then we're nearing 50 degrees by Sunday afternoon.
Our next chance of precipitation after tonight's snow showers will be on Monday. Monday will bring the chance of rain showers with highs around 50.