Chicago weather: More snow arrives tonight before next week's deep freeze

CHICAGO - It is positively frigid out there this morning with many suburban locations below zero. Thank goodness it’s not very windy or we might be looking at dangerous windchills beyond the discomfort many will feel out there this morning. 

Valentine's Day Forecast

What we know:

Now the forecast focus is on a two-pronged snowmaker punctuated by some mixed precipitation in between.

After a sunny start to this Valentine’s Day, clouds will move in this afternoon as a precursor to a few hours of snow this evening. If I had to pick a timeframe for that, I would say between 6 p.m. and midnight, although the duration of snow in any given location maybe more like 3 to 4 hours. Total snowfall from this first blast looks to be on the order of 1 to maybe 3 inches with a bias for the heavier amounts in our northern counties. 

Later tonight and tomorrow as somewhat milder air moves up from the south helping nudge temperatures perhaps just past freezing, a light mix of snow/drizzle/freezing drizzle may fall with minimal impacts. 

The next timeframe of greater concern will be late tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night-and the jury is really still out on that one. There are some computer models which bring a few more inches of snow to the area and there are some computer model solutions which show very little if any additional accumulation. At this point I think it is likely that we pick up a couple of inches of snow late tomorrow and tomorrow night, creating some dicey travel conditions in the evening. 

Deep freeze

What's next:

There may be a few light snow showers or flurries around early Sunday, but there shouldn’t be any meaningful snow coming down. What will be meaningful is the cold that is queued up and ready to plow in here Sunday.

Presidents’ Day looks to be the coldest of the bunch when highs may not even reach double digits. Overnight lows during this period will likely be below zero in most areas with the possible exception of right downtown.