Special Weather Statement
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
945 PM CST TUE JAN 30 2007
… COLDEST FEBRUARY TEMPERATURES IN OVER TEN YEARS EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND …
Forecasts continue to suggest that northern Illinois and northwest Indiana will be experiencing a cold snap with temperatures falling well below zero this weekend into early next week.
Current computer forecasts suggest that air now over northern Canada near Hudson Bay will be circulating southward into the upper Midwest and across the western Great Lakes. Although temperatures have been on the cold side the past several days, the core of the coldest Arctic air remains in Canada. However, a disturbance is forecast to dig southward into the northern US Thursday night into Friday allowing Arctic air to surge southward. This bitterly cold air is expected to arrive Friday into Friday night.
Over the weekend, low temperatures are forecast to fall to around -10 with daytime readings struggling to reach positive digits. The last time the Rockford and Chicago areas experienced prolonged cold of this magnitude was in early February of 1996. At that time, low temperatures at Rockford fell to -20 or colder and daytime highs only reach the -15 to -10 range. In Chicago during this same period, lows were -15 to -20 and highs were around -5.
At this time temperatures are not expected to be as cold as the 1996 episode, nonetheless, subzero readings are forecast to combine with winds of 20 MPH at times to produce dangerously low wind chills of -20 to -30 below zero from Friday night through Monday.
