The chances that Peoria will see snow this weekend have increased in the latest update from the National Weather Service as part of a winter weather system that also will bring brutally cold temperatures.
NWS said Thursday afternoon that Peoria has a 52% of seeing at least four inches of snow beginning Saturday morning, with a 12% chance of seeing eight inches or more. This is a change from prior forecasts, which weren’t predicting any major snowfall for the Peoria area.
The snow will come on top of extreme cold temperatures that will hit Peoria beginning Thursday night. Low temperatures will come in at six degrees below zero Thursday night, with wind chills dropping as low as 30 degrees below zero in some areas.
John Bumgardner, a meteorologist with the NWS, said that an Arctic front dropping out of Canada is already beginning to bring frigid temperatures to the upper Midwest, with some areas in Minnesota and North Dakota seeing air temperatures at 15-20 degrees below zero.
“It’s quite cold,” Bumgardner said. “There’s a snow cover to our north across much of the upper Midwest, mainly north of Interstate 80, so that cold air over the snow is not going to get modified very much by the time it gets here.”
Bumgardner said people should still be on the lookout for low temperatures from zero to five degrees below zero and wind chills ranging from 20-30 below zero.
“Those really take a plunge behind the front between 7-10 p.m. tonight,” Bumgardner said. “They’ll be bottoming out around sunrise tomorrow morning.”
Areas outside the city of Peoria may receive colder temperatures and wind chills, but Bumgardner warns that wind chill factors likely aren’t going to change much Friday, staying under 10 degrees below zero for much of the day.
“Air temperatures will be around five degrees above zero and then wind chills will fall back down to minus 15 Saturday morning,” Bumgardner said.
Temperatures will warm up ever so slightly Saturday, but snow will follow as a result, with Bumgardner saying that uncertainty with the models led to earlier predictions of lighter accumulation for Peoria.
“The system responsible for this system was out in the Southwest yesterday,” Bumgardner said. “It’s starting to take shape over the southern Plains today and it’ll be lifting north across the Tennessee Valley tomorrow. The models have a hard time when it’s a couple of days out and they’re dealing with these subtle features that are way out in the west.”
When will it snow in Peoria?
The snow is set to come in two waves: one Saturday afternoon into the evening and then another system that will stretch into Sunday, with Bumgardner saying that the second system is more likely to bring significant snow.
Because of the cold air, the snow is likely to be of the dry and fluffy variety, which could lead to some issues on the roadways, particularly on Sunday with winds gusting up to 20 mph.
“If nothing else, with the dry characteristic of snow and how fluffy it is, it doesn’t take much wind to cause some drifting,” Bumgardner said. “We will have those winds gusting 20 mph or so on Sunday, so it can definitely keep those country roads pretty hazardous.”
When will it warm up in Peoria?
The cold air is likely to continue into the early part of next week, with Bumgardner noting that Sunday night may see the coldest temperatures, projected for now to be around two degrees below zero for Peoria. While temperatures will become more normal beginning Tuesday, colder air may be in the forecast for later in the week, with another cold spell possible.
“I wouldn’t hang my hat on a big warmup in the next seven to 10 days,” Bumgardner said.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Snow chances increasing for Peoria area. Here’s how much is expected
Reporting by Zach Roth, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
