Fwd: storm update

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Philip C. Ordway <pcordway@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 7:55 AM
Subject: storm update
To: "go@blogger.com" <go@blogger.com>, Chicago severe weather <chicagosevereweather@googlegroups.com>

Not a lot has changed overnight, but there are still a lot of moving parts. Dry air is funneling into the area on strong NE winds right now, but the storm is in progress and snow is flying to our SE. 

There is still high-confidence in blizzard conditions and 6-10" of snow in far SE Cook and NW Indiana. Kankakee-Hammond-Gary are under a Blizzard Warning. Any travel east of Chicago is going to be difficult if not impossible. Most of Michigan is going to get socked too. 

There is much less confidence in the snow totals over much of the Chicago region. The band of heavy snow is very tight but this is a strong storm, so small changes can make a big difference. Right now the line of heaviest snow looks likely to stay near or SE of I-55. 

Best guess right now remains 2-6" over most of the city and near suburbs, with amounts higher to the SE and less to the NW. Areas in Dupage and Lake counties may only see 1-2". 

The precip should begin or change over by late morning. The worst conditions will be mid afternoon through evening, so affected areas could have a very rough evening commute. 

The snow will be heavy and wet but the strong winds will still whip it around. Visibility is going to be poor this afternoon and evening. Winds are already strong, so flight delays and cancellations are likely to mount throughout the day. 

The only mitigating factor is that the recent warmth and bare ground, combined with the warm temps today and during the snowfall, will make road treatment and conditions better than they otherwise would be.